Letter from President Loh .......................................................................... 4

About QUEST ............................................................................................. 5

Consulting Projects Portfolio

BD ................................................................................................................. 6

Caterpillar ..................................................................................................... 8

Chain Link Fence Manufacturers Institute ................................................. 10

Constellation ................................................................................................ 12

Leidos ............................................................................................................ 14

Oceaneering International ........................................................................... 16

Orbital ATK .................................................................................................. 18

QUEST Faculty and Leadership Information ........................................... 20

Notable Past Projects ................................................................................... 25

QUEST Sponsors ......................................................................................... 29

Special Thanks & Acknowledgements ....................................................... 30

Table of Contents

December 7, 2017

Dear QUEST Seniors:

Congratulations on your accomplishments! All of us are very proud.

Though QUEST standards are academically rigorous and challenging, you have surpassed them. The energy and spirit you have devoted to your project is evident.

I am very fond of this program because it prepares you to work collabo-ratively in interdisciplinary teams— an experience you are likely to en-counter after graduation. Your hands-on experiences will also prove use-ful as you move ahead.

We wish you all the best today in your conference presentation and great success in the next phase of your life. Please stay in touch through the QUEST alumni network so that we can know how you are doing.

Sincerely,

Wallace D. Loh

President, University of Maryland

4

ABOUT QUEST

The Quality Enhancement Systems and Teams (QUEST) Honors Program is

a multidisciplinary, hands-on program for University of Maryland

undergraduates majoring in engineering, business, and science.

Students participate in a challenging course of study that focuses on quality

management, process improvement, and system design. Funded in 1992 by a grant from IBM to establish total quality on university campuses, QUEST

continues to produce excellent graduates prepared to face the changing

landscape of business, engineering, and technology.

Follow Us @QUESTumd!

5

#QUESTConference

PROJECT SUMMARY Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) is a Fortune 500 medical technology company that operates globally through two segments: BD Medical and BD Life Sciences. BD Diagnostics, a subgroup within BD Life Sciences, provides instrumentation and products for microbial pres-ence screening, organism growth and identification, and antibiotic susceptibility testing. BD has created a modular Total Lab Automation (TLA) system, the KiestraTM, for inoculation, incubation, identification, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of microorganisms. However, they have found this solution to be too expensive and too large for small-to-medium sized labor-atories. BD recognizes that small-to-medium sized microbiology laboratories could automate the identification and susceptibility testing (ID/AST) stages using the current solution BD pro-vides. However, the ID/AST module cannot function alone; it requires data input through an image. Team nBD has designed a microbiological imaging device that will allow BD to expand the market for its ID/AST module by making it accessible to smaller laboratories.

CONTRIBUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Team nBD conducted three site visits throughout the semester to understand the workflow of a microbiology laboratory: one to BD headquarters to see the full KiestraTM system, one to a small, manual laboratory, and one to a larger facility with various automated systems. The inter-views conducted during these visits, in addition to weekly client meetings, provided insight in regards to integration of the imaging device into the existing workflow. Ideation was conducted as a team, while specific tasks were performed individually. A modular imaging system is recom-mended to allow microbiologists to work independently and reduce potential bottlenecks with the ID/AST module. Lid removal, sample tracking, and workflow integration were the main challenges to address in product development. For the selected design, team nBD has created a technical drawing and bill of materials, accompanied by a suggested workflow and a projected $3.5 million increase in annual revenues.

THE QUEST - BD PROJECT

DESIGNING AN IMAGING DEVICE FOR MICROBIOLOGICAL AUTOMATION

STUDENT TEAM: NBD

6

Sherry Levine

Finance,

Information

Systems

Aaman Mengis

Mechanical

Engineering

Miriam Silton

Materials

Science and

Engineering

Jordan Steiner

Marketing,

Supply Chain

Management

Nimit Patel

Chemical

Engineering

Project Champions: Gerard Mulder, Project Manager, Project Development;

Dr. Michael Bois, Staff Scientist

Faculty Advisors: Dr. Ian White, John Goertz

7

PROJECT SUMMARY With over 95,000 employees and $38 billion in revenue, Caterpillar has expanded from its California roots into an internationally recognized symbol of quality machinery. Caterpillar’s major product lines are Construction, Mining Equipment, Diesel & Natural Gas Engines, Industrial Gas Turbines, and Diesel-Electric Locomotives. The departments involved in this project are Global Information Services (GIS) Division and Identity and Access Management (IAM), which aim to eliminate reliance on passwords by 2020.Caterpillar passwords have grown in length and complexity in order to meet security requirements. This makes it more difficult to create and remember passwords, leading to exasperated users and increased demand on call centers. As a result, Caterpillar is exploring the idea of implementing password alternatives for their authentication system to increase user satisfaction with authentication. The users access-ing Caterpillar Web Services are customers, workforce, and suppliers/dealers. The team’s rec-ommendations will fit into Caterpillar’s overall timeline for password replacement, allow them to conduct proofs of concepts (POC’s), select a product, and implement the solution.

CONTRIBUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The Caterpillar Effect first conducted stakeholder analysis to define functional and technical requirements. Then, they conducted online research, gathered Caterpillar data, administered surveys, and worked with a CMSC435 team to develop an authentication test bench. Lastly, they did holistic data analysis to create a segmented strategy. The team recommends fingerprint and facial recognition for customers, employees, and suppliers/dealers. In addition, they recom-mend social login for customers and USB key for employees. Some technologies to keep on a watch list are behavior analytics and heart rate. Potential vendors include Okta, Bitium, Gemal-to, Deepnet Security, and SecureAuth. Moving forward, Caterpillar will be able to improve user experience, provide increased security, and increase customer retention by investing in Caterpil-lar’s digital strategy.

THE QUEST - CATERPILLAR PROJECT

IMPROVING THE USER EXPERIENCE OF AUTHENTICATION

STUDENT TEAM: THE CATERPILLAR EFFECT

8

Rohan Bajaj

Finance

Chloe Berman

Marketing

Sam Lewando

Mechanical

Engineering

Julia Lomakina

Info Systems,

Operations

Management

Alyssa Hu

Computer

Science,

Mathematics

Project Champion: Rowland Nicholson, Enterprise Architect

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jim Purtilo

9

PROJECT SUMMARY Chain Link Fence Manufacturers Institute (CLFMI) is an association comprised of over 30 companies that operate within a wide variety of industries. The organization works to improve the safety, quality, and availability of chain link fencing systems. It does so by developing indus-try standards, maintaining a technical knowledge base, and seeking to effectively represent its membership as a whole. CLFMI has identified the electric utilities industry as an opportunity for substantial growth. Recent changes in regulation, coupled with heightened physical security concerns, have created an opportunity for an increase in sales of chain link fence products in this industry. This project’s objective is to provide CLFMI and its membership with tools and recommendations to effectively increase the awareness of security-grade chain link fence. These deliverables will aid CLFMI in developing a strategy that allows its members to target and un-derstand the unique needs of the decision makers within this industry.

CONTRIBUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Our team conducted primary and secondary qualitative research which consisted of gathering government and technical documentation, site visits, and interviews. After synthesizing our data, we crafted three deliverables for our client. The first deliverable, the barrier comparison matrix, creates a tailored weighted evaluation score for various barriers based on the users’ rank-ings of specific security factors. The second deliverable, a web-based system selection tool, assists customers in the purchasing stage by displaying chain link options that satisfy security specifica-tions selected by the user. The third deliverable will be a consolidation of our recommenda-tions to our client presented as a comprehensive industry report. These recommendations will advise CLFMI to track sales metrics from member companies in order to measure the impact of future marketing efforts and develop partnerships with security accessory companies and other trade organizations.

THE QUEST - CHAIN LINK FENCE MANUFACTURERS INSTITUTE PROJECT

INFLUENCING CUSTOMER DECISION-MAKING FOR CHAIN LINK FENCE

STUDENT TEAM: LINK UP CONSULTING

10

Ben Graney

Green

Aerospace

Engineering

Christy Powell

Supply Chain

Management,

Info Systems

Cece Ukejianya

Accounting,

Finance

Alvin Wang

Supply Chain

Management,

Info Systems

Max Samuels

Finance,

Marketing

Project Champions: Mark Levin, Executive Vice President; David Smith, CLFMI Secretary and

Treasurer; Andrea Hogan, CLFMI Director; Bill Ullrich, Certified Fence Professional

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey Herrmann

11

PROJECT SUMMARY Constellation, an Exelon Company, is a leading energy supplier in the U.S. Headquartered in Baltimore, Constellation provides power, natural gas, renewable energy, and energy manage-ment products and services for homes and businesses. They serve more than 100,000 business-es across the country, providing energy solutions that help customers strategically buy, manage, and use their energy. Their customer base includes commercial, industrial, public sector, gov-ernment and institutional customers. ZODIAC Consulting worked with the Customer Experi-ence & Insights Team to explore how Constellation can better capture and analyze indicators of customer loyalty throughout the customer journey. This project conceptualized the purpose, process, and impact of implementing a Customer Experience Management (CEM) strategy. The recommendation to implement Service Cloud will build upon Constellation’s Salesforce digital transformation and create a holistic Customer Management Strategy. Salesforce Service Cloud will increase customer knowledge, improve decision making, help customers feel more in-formed, and enhance the company’s perceived value, ultimately boosting customer retention and satisfaction.

CONTRIBUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ZODIAC Consulting’s methodology began with listening to fifty phone survey recordings and looking at five examples of customer journeys. Analyzing this qualitative data as well as reading the C&I Retail Deep Dive Report helped the team understand Constellation’s current state and need for a Customer Experience Management strategy. After the team identified the gaps in tracking data throughout customer touch points, they researched technology software to find a solution that compliments Salesforce. The team reached out to CEM specialists to learn whether the software had the capabilities to collect specific metrics that were recommended from last semester’s QUEST team (Team Orion). Based on research and the needs of the Cus-tomer Experience & Insights Team, ZODIAC Consulting developed a CEM implementation strategy. This roadmap includes recommendations for a four-phase roadmap: pre-implementation changes, technological implementation, post-implementation changes, and management decisions.

THE QUEST - CONSTELLATION PROJECT

IMPROVING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

STUDENT TEAM: ZODIAC CONSULTING

12

Jesse Doris

Computer

Science

Sarina Haryanto

Supply Chain

Management

Erica Shields

Accounting,

Economics

Jasmine Zhu

Info Systems,

Supply Chain

Management

Tiffany Memenza

Info Systems,

Operations

Management

Project Champions: Marcy Buentello, Director of Sales Ops Effectiveness;

Meredith Keeney, Loyalty Manager; Kristin Seifarth, Principal, Sales Effectiveness

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Janet Wagner

13

PROJECT SUMMARY Leidos is a multinational company employing over 30,000 people with yearly revenues of over 7 billion dollars. Skyline is a division within Leidos that serves the air traffic control industry. Based in Gaithersburg, the fast-growing division of 50 employees delivers full production of air traffic control software and integration into hardware instrumentation for countries like the UK, New Zealand, and Kazakhstan. Given the small size and youth of the division, an unor-ganized, unmonitored “buddy system” is used to onboard their new employees and it has been adequate for SkyLine until recently. With the recent increase in hiring, which is only expected to grow in the next few years, SkyLine is observing that new employees are taking almost a year to get up-to-speed. To improve this situation, SkyLine needs to be able to transfer general knowledge and domain skills to new hires in a consistent, efficient, and timely manner. Call Sign SkyLine is here to help SkyLine create a training program framework so they can achieve these goals as soon as possible.

CONTRIBUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Our approach to the project was influenced by the fact that SkyLine had no quantitative histori-cal data to provide insight into the current state of the training process. This led us to begin our process by applying design thinking techniques. We interviewed current employees to under-stand their experience and pain points before using primary and secondary data sources to guide our brainstorming and iterations of potential solutions. The result of our approach is a two-part recommendation. First is a formal training framework for new hires supplemented by a pilot program to roll out implementation and research that presents the various training methods that can be plugged into the pilot program if Skyline wishes to modify it. Second is an integral part of the framework to collect the metrics needed to gauge the growth of individual employees and monitor the improvement of Skyline as a whole.

THE QUEST - LEIDOS PROJECT

OPTIMIZING TRAINING FOR INTERNATIONAL SKYLINE PRODUCT AREA

STUDENT TEAM: CALL SIGN SKYLINE

Chyanne Nader

Civil/Environmental

Engineering

Waliullah Rifai

Computer Science

Parth Talwar

Finance, Info Systems

Samantha Weaver

Chemical

Engineering

14

Project Champion: Alexander Monti, SkyLine Product Engineering Manager

Faculty Advisor: David Ashley

15

PROJECT SUMMARY Oceaneering Technologies (OTECH), a subsidiary of Oceaneering International Incorporated, develops custom marine equipment for military and commercial customers. Due to the custom-ization of their products, OTECH commonly makes “one-offs.” These are solutions that are uniquely designed for the customer and undergo only one product lifecycle including design, production, and maintenance. OTECH prides themselves on being “faster-to-the-field” than competitors. They achieve this by giving a high degree of latitude and freedom to technicians and engineers on the floor. While this lack of structure is a key advantage, it has led to limited documentation of workflow, conflicts in stakeholder communication, and insufficient time/budget tracking. Therefore, the opportunity with OTECH lies in improving work tracking and documentation processes within the organization, which in turn will increase program manager awareness of work completion, optimize tracking and prioritization of project tasks, improve internal communication, and increase accuracy of time/budget estimates for future product runs.

CONTRIBUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Blue Ocean Consulting focused on using a qualitative approach by utilizing repeated stakehold-er interviews to understand OTECH’s design process. These interviews discovered that the main opportunities to improve project tracking and awareness of workflow completion were increasing cross-stakeholder communication and standardizing build processes. To address the issue of workflow tracking, the team created an earned value management (combination of time and budget) spreadsheet. The spreadsheet -- customized at the beginning of each project -- can be adapted for any unique project OTECH undertakes and allows for better estimates of a current project’s delivery date and final budget. Furthermore, data can be collected from spreadsheets over time to more accurately predict budgets of future projects, allowing for a more efficient use of resources. Weekly meetings between project stakeholders were also recom-mended to help facilitate increased communication and better align group priorities.

THE QUEST - OCEANEERING INTERNATIONAL PROJECT

IMPLEMENTING A SYSTEM TO OPTIMIZE PROJECT ASSEMBLY TRACKING

STUDENT TEAM: BLUE OCEAN CONSULTING

16

Kevin Dragonette

Chemical

Engineering

Michael Du

Finance

Andrew Jones

Aerospace

Engineering

Bryce Peterson

Mechanical

Engineering

Eric Higgins

Marketing

Project Champions: Jeff Gamerman, Quality Engineer;

George Kotula, Principal Engineer

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Billy Champion

17

PROJECT SUMMARY Orbital ATK is a defense contractor that designs, builds, and delivers various space, defense, and flight systems. One branch of Orbital ATK’s Defense Systems Group produces small cali-ber ammunition for customers at their Lake City Army Ammunition Plant (LCAAP). Current-ly, one operation in their LCAAP facility serves two main clients with their ammunition manu-facturing, but in the future, they have the opportunity to expand production for three addition-al clients who are not currently accounted for in the process. Due to each of the new custom-er’s constraints, Orbital ATK aims to increase the eight current product lines to thirteen total product lines. Bulletproof Consulting is tasked with understanding the current high-volume manufacturing process and identifying unique requirements to successfully accommodate Or-bital ATK’s customer increase. The client is looking for short-term plans that can be imple-mented before the end of the fiscal year as well as a long-term plan that can be used to show potential directions for the LCAAP in the future. Our recommendations help Orbital ATK prevent mixing of products and increase overall efficiency of production.

CONTRIBUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Bulletproof Consulting followed a five-step approach consisting of performing background research, compiling scope-specific information, remapping the process flow diagrams, identify-ing areas of improvement, and completing deliverables with a risk analysis for their client. Bul-letproof Consulting considered several recommendations and selected the most efficient and low-risk solutions. The team considered editing the client’s Material Handing Control Board but decided to recommend a new, computerized version instead. The new version further mini-mizes discrepancies in the movement of materials, reduces human error, and increases the over-all flow of products through the system. Other recommendations include implementing a visu-al control strategy to easily monitor where products are throughout the facility and creating a strategy to keep different materials separate and prevent cross-contamination. With these rec-ommendations, Orbital ATK will be able to accommodate production for five clients and thir-teen product lines and minimize cross-product contamination.

THE QUEST - ORBITAL ATK PROJECT

OPTIMIZING AMMUNITION PRODUCTION FLOW

STUDENT TEAM: BULLETPROOF CONSULTING

18

Xiomi Baleno

Marketing,

Supply Chain

Management

Lina Bauer

Finance

Haroula

Tzamaras

Mechanical

Engineering

Brayan

Varghese

Aerospace

Engineering

Andrew Lui

Info Systems,

Operations

Management

Project Champions: Bryan Buckland, Vice President, Finance;

Dan Busher, Senior Director, Operations

Faculty Advisor: Dr. Pamela Armstrong

19

QUEST FACULTY AND LEADERSHIP

DR. PAMELA ARMSTRONG ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, QUEST HONORS PROGRAM ASSOCIATE CLINICAL PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT SCIENCE ROBERT H. SMITH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS PROJECT ADVISED: ORBITAL ATK

Dr. Pamela Armstrong is an Associate Clinical Professor in the Decision, Operations & Information Technologies department at the Smith School. She teaches the introductory QUEST course on design and quality and the QUEST mentors course. Dr. Armstrong also teaches courses in operations management, operations strategy, decision analytics and pro-ject management. Her areas of interest include quality, performance excellence, and service operations. Prior to joining the Smith School, Dr. Armstrong ran a management consult-ing firm that provided operational analysis, strategic planning, and performance manage-ment services to federal clients. Before consulting, she served on the faculty at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Dr. Armstrong also worked as an engineer at IBM, AT&T Bell Laboratories & Hughes Aircraft Company. She earned her Ph.D. in Operations and Information Management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, her M.S. in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from the Uni-versity of California, Berkeley, and her B.S. in Systems Engineering from the University of Arizona. DAVID ASHLEY, M.B.A. EXECUTIVE IN RESIDENCE, QUEST HONORS PROGRAM ROBERT H. SMITH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS PROJECT ADVISED: LEIDOS

David Ashley is an adjunct professor and an Executive in Residence at the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business. He is currently the Human Capital Data Analytics Division Manager at the Department of Homeland Security. In that role, Mr. Ashley man-ages a division overseeing analytics and reporting of the DHS workforce that includes 230,000 people across the 10 DHS components. Before his current role at DHS, he was a program analyst for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) within the De-partment of Homeland Security where his duties involve developing business models, per-formance measurement and survey work, and program management and program reviews. Before joining FEMA, he also worked at the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), and the Small Business Development Center at the University of New Mexico. He also served as president of the University of Georgia’s Marketing Research Institute International, and he served two terms as president of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Marketing Research Asso-ciation. Mr. Ashley has many publications including a marketing research college textbook published by Kendall Hunt Publishing. He holds an undergraduate degree from the Uni-versity of North Carolina and a graduate degree from the University of New Mexico.

20

QUEST FACULTY AND LEADERSHIP

DR. JOSEPH P. BAILEY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, QUEST HONORS PROGRAM ASSOCIATE RESEARCH PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF DECISIONS, OPERATIONS, AND INFOR-

MATION TECHNOLOGIES ROBERT H. SMITH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Dr. Joseph Bailey is the Executive Director of the QUEST Honors Program and an Associ-ate Research Professor at the Smith School. He has been a faculty member at the Universi-ty of Maryland since 1998. Additionally, Dr. Bailey directs the designEd program -- a gradu-ate program that emphasizes design thinking at the intersection of business and technolo-gy. Previously, he directed the QUEST Honors Program from 2009-2014. He stepped down from that role to spend a year as an Edison Scholar at the United States Patent and Trademark Office and returned in 2017. He teaches a variety of undergraduate and gradu-ate classes including entrepreneurship and information technology within the Smith School’s Executive MBA Program. Dr. Bailey has a Ph.D. from the Technology, Manage-ment and Policy Program at MIT, an M.S. in Engineering-Economic Systems from Stan-ford University, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University. DR. BILLY CHAMPION INSTRUCTOR, DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING A. JAMES CLARK SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING PROJECT ADVISED: OCEANEERING INTERNATIONAL

Dr. Billy Champion is an instructor in the Mechanical Department of the A. James Clark School of Engineering. He teaches a course in Renewable Energy in the spring semes-ters. His interests are Energy, Optimization, Project Management and Integer Program-ming. Dr. Champion is currently employed in the building sector providing engineering and energy consulting, strategic and capital planning, and program management to federal, state, local and institutional clients. He has also worked as a Manager at Accenture and as a Senior Engineer at Westinghouse. Dr. Champion holds an MBA from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. He is a professional engineer and Certified Energy Manager. JOHN GOERTZ GRADUATE RESEARCH ASSISTANT, DR. IAN WHITE’S AMPLIFIED MOLECULAR SENSORS LAB FISCHELL DEPARTMENT OF BIOENGINEERING A. JAMES CLARK SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING PROJECT ADVISED: BD

John received Bachelor of Science degrees in Physics and Molecular Biology from Seattle University before joining Dr. Ian White's Amplified Molecular Sensors Lab at the Univer-sity of Maryland. Now in his fifth and final year of getting his Ph.D. in Bioengineering, John's doctoral work has focused on developing inexpensive, easy-to-use biosensors for point-of-care diagnostics in low-resource settings. He is preparing for a career in academia.

21

QUEST FACULTY AND LEADERSHIP

DR. JEFFREY HERRMANN ACADEMIC DIRECTOR, QUEST HONORS PROGRAM PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AND INSTITUTE FOR SYSTEMS RESEARCH A. JAMES CLARK SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING PROJECT ADVISED: CHAIN LINK FENCE MANUFACTURERS INSTITUTE

Dr. Jeffrey Herrmann is a Professor at the University of Maryland, where he holds a joint appointment with the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Institute for Sys-tems Research. Dr. Herrmann earned his B.S. in Applied Mathematics from Georgia Insti-tute of Technology. As a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow from 1990 to 1993, he received his Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering from the Uni-versity of Florida. His dissertation investigated production scheduling problems motivated by semiconductor manufacturing. He is the author of the textbook Engineering Decision Making and Risk Management. His current research interests include risk-based path optimi-zation for unmanned aircraft systems and improving engineering decision making. JESSICA MACKLIN, M.A. PROGRAM MANAGER, QUEST HONORS PROGRAM

Jessica Macklin is the Program Manager for the QUEST Honors Program. She coordinates the program’s daily operations, leads the program’s recruitment and admissions efforts, plans and executes conferences and orientation, advises QUEST’s student organizations, and supports professors as needed. Jessica received her BA in Psychology from the Univer-sity of Maryland, College Park and her MA in Higher and Postsecondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Prior to joining QUEST, Jessica was the Gradu-ate Assistant in Columbia University’s Office of Student Engagement. RUSSELL OTTALINI GRADUATE ASSISTANT, QUEST HONORS PROGRAM

Russell Ottalini is the Graduate Assistant for the QUEST Honors Program. He assists with daily operations, works with the QUEST Alumni Board and the QUEST Student Organi-zation, and helped facilitate the IBM Design Challenge this past September. Russell re-ceived a B.A. in Japanese and Sociology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2013 and is a current student in the University of Maryland’s Urban Studies and Planning M.A. pro-gram. His research interests include urban design, collective housing, transit-oriented devel-opment, smart cities, and international planning. Russell will be graduating in Spring 2019.

22

QUEST FACULTY AND LEADERSHIP

DR. JIM PURTILO ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, COMPUTER SCIENCE COLLEGE OF COMPUTER, MATHEMATICAL, AND NATURAL SCIENCES PROJECT ADVISED: CATERPILLAR

Dr. Jim Purtilo specializes in software development and product assurance, and his re-search is currently funded by the Office of Naval Research on a cyber security systems pro-ject. With prior support from the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and various corporate sources, Purtilo has studied and published on topics of software producibility, formal methods, rapid prototyping and test-ing. Purtilo has served on the Defense Biometric Support Team (an advisory group to the Office of the Secretary of Defense) and consulted with the Division of Civil Rights within the Department of Justice. At the University of Maryland, he has served as the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education in the College of Computer, Mathematical and Physi-cal Sciences, chaired the undergraduate Computer Science program and directed the Mas-ter's of Software Engineering Program. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana in 1986. DR. J. GERALD SUAREZ PROFESSOR OF PRACTICE IN SYSTEMS THINKING AND DESIGN FELLOW, CENTER FOR LEADERSHIP, INNOVATION, AND CHANGE DISTINGUISHED ACADEMY FELLOW, ACADEMY FOR INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP SENIOR EXECUTIVE COACH ROBERT H. SMITH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Dr. J. Gerald Suarez is a premier educator, speaker and consultant in the fields of Organi-zational Design, Systems Thinking and Total Quality Management. He joined Smith in 2005 as Executive Director of the multidisciplinary Quality Enhancement Systems and Teams (QUEST) Honors program. Dr. Suarez currently teaches "Systems Thinking for Managerial Decision Making” for QUEST. He also teaches at the corporate, executive MBA, custom EMBA, international, and undergraduate levels. From 2008 to 2010, Dr. Suarez served as Associate Dean of External Strategy, leading the offices of marketing com-munications, recruitment and career services. Prior to joining the Smith School, he served under two administrations in the White House, providing direct support to President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush. Dr. Suarez holds a master's degree and a Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from the University of Puerto Rico.

23

QUEST FACULTY AND LEADERSHIP

DR. JANET WAGNER ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MARKETING & DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE IN SERVICE ROBERT H. SMITH SCHOOL OF BUSINESS PROJECT ADVISED: CONSTELLATION

Dr. Janet Wagner has thirty years of experience in teaching and research on best practices in marketing services. Her most recent research is on how service firms in business-to-business environments build relationships with their customers. Of particular interest is how firms build customer loyalty, through customer satisfaction, trust, and value. Dr. Wag-ner’s research has been published in the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Consum-er Research, the Journal of Retailing, the Journal of Service Research, the Journal of Consumer Affairs, and Industrial Marketing Management. She teaches marketing management to M.S; students in the Clark School of Engineering’s Telecommunications Management program. She is also academic director of two established executive education programs -- the PSLI, the Professional Services Leadership Initiative, and SMPS U, the Leadership Advancement Program of the Society for Marketing Professional Services. Dr. Wagner has consulted on customer service, customer relationship management and service recovery with businesses such as IBM, Hughes Network Systems, China Telecom, and PGGM of the Netherlands, as well as CAME of Peru. She has also trained customer service managers and staff for government organizations, including the District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA), and the University of Maryland’s Offices of Information Technology and Office of the Bursar. DR. IAN WHITE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, ASSOCIATE CHAIR, AND DIRECTOR OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES FISCHELL DEPARTMENT OF BIOENGINEERING A. JAMES CLARK SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING PROJECT ADVISED: BD

Ian White is an Associate Chair and the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland. Dr. White received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2002, where he developed next generation optical metropolitan area communication networks. He then served as a Member of Technical Staff at Sprint’s Advanced Technology Laboratories until 2005. At that time, Dr. White transitioned into the field of optical biosensors as a Postdoctoral Fel-low in the University of Missouri Life Sciences Center. In 2008, Dr. White joined the faculty in the Fischell Department of Bioengineering at the University of Maryland, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2014. His research group aims to develop novel microsystems for applications in chemical analytics and disease diagnosis. In particular, the group emphasizes sample preparation for ease-of-use and amplified transduction tech-niques to improve detection performance.

24

NOTABLE PAST PROJECTS

SPRING 2017: THE QUEST—BLOOMBERG PROJECT PROJECT: FINANCIAL DATA EXTRACTION AND CLASSIFICATION PREDICTION

PETE DZIKI

BOBBY ELLETT

CHRISTIAN JOHNSON

JEREMY KRACH

PROJECT SUMMARY Bloomberg L.P. is a financial software, data, and media company headquartered in New York, NY, that conducts business around the globe. Through the Bloomberg Terminal financial software system, Bloomberg connects financial professionals with the real time market data that allows them to make educated investment decisions. Bloomberg seeks to increase workflow efficiency by automating the manual process of both data extraction and entity classification from financial documents. Bloomberg aims to utilize machine learning and software-based solutions to maximize efficiency in this automation process and has enlisted PBJC to design and deliver a software data extraction tool. Through this tool, Bloomberg will speed up data delivery to customers and free up analyst time that can be allocated toward other tasks.

CONTRIBUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The software package delivered to Bloomberg employs a combination of business rules and natural language algorithms to create a powerful data extraction tool. PBJC identi-fied business rules through financial research, using prospectus financial documents and 10-K annual reports to detect patterns in phrasing and document layout. These rules served as the basis for the software development phase of the project. The team developed a comprehensive software package that extracts key data fields and infor-mation relevant to classification from financial documents. The development team designed innovative algorithms that make use of Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning to extract data and perform classification with high accuracy. The algorithms were uniquely tuned for Bloomberg’s use case and account for sen-tence structure and common keywords to produce a scoring system to rank and extract relevant data. Testing determined that the software package delivered to Bloomberg extracts data at a 90.35% accuracy rate. This is estimated to free a total of 83 work hours per week. The team is currently testing classification accuracy to deliver even greater value.

25

NOTABLE PAST PROJECTS

FALL 2016: THE QUEST—BD PROJECT

PROJECT: BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY FOR LACTINEX™

UVA DAYALAN

CHRIS DEMEK

BASMA HAMUD

SANDRA SOLTZ

GOPAL SRINIVASAN

PROJECT SUMMARY Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) is an American medical technology company that manufactures and sells medical devices, instrument systems, and reagents. The company operates worldwide and employs over 40,000 people. BD’s Diagnostic Sys-tems division oversees Lactinex™, the only product sold by the company meant for human consumption. BD began selling Lactinex™ after it acquired the rights to the probiotic supplement brand over 50 years ago. Declining sales in recent years have led BD to identify the need for a formalized product marketing strategy. Therefore, our project scope includes developing an understanding of Lactinex™ and the market, as well as providing recommendations for tactical and strategic marketing of the product. Along the way, our deliverables have included an analysis of the product and market, a shopping gap analysis, and profit and loss estimations for our recommendations. Our ultimate objective is to provide the company with a baseline upon which it can make informed decisions regarding the final marketing strategy to be developed in-house.

CONTRIBUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Our team conducted three surveys of varying success to prospective and current con-sumers of probiotics, veterinarians, and physicians in order to determine consumer attitudes and familiarity with probiotic products. We also held two focus groups to first gauge consumer reactions to Lactinex™ and to supplement our survey data. The results of our primary data analysis informed the team of a need to change the Lac-tinex™ packaging and consider possible reformulation of the product. In addition, we also reviewed research provided by Becton Dickinson and conducted our own second-ary research. This influenced numerous recommendations, most notably, the applica-tion of our focus group data to identify a need to sell Lactinex™ in capsule form. The team’s secondary research led us to recommend an algae-derived material as a feasible, effective method of encapsulation. We also developed criteria to evaluate consumer shopping experiences and visited retailers in Maryland to study the purchase process for Lactinex™. Since Lactinex™ is only sold at the pharmacy because of refrigeration needs, the team recommended that BD place advertisements in store aisles and the pharmacy counter to increase brand awareness.

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NOTABLE PAST PROJECTS

SPRING 2016: THE QUEST—INTRALOX PROJECT PROJECT: OPTIMIZING PALLET MANAGEMENT

FREDRIK BERGENDAL

ANDREW DICKEN

SHMUEL GOLD

VICTOR WESSEN

PROJECT SUMMARY Founded in 1947, Intralox is a global leader in design and manufacturing of conveyor belt systems. They provide technical and consulting support, placing customer service at the top of their priorities. Intralox is globally headquartered in New Orleans, LA and acquired the Savage, MD location in order to continue to grow and produce the industry's most innovative conveyance solutions. They seek to deliver superior quality to their customers through focusing on four key attributes including Service, Technol-ogy, Accountability, and Results. The issue our team has been confronted with is the excess waste left behind from deliveries to the Intralox facility. The shipments are cur-rently delivered on large wooden pallets with excess plastic and packing materials which are all useless upon arrival. Intralox is paying skilled laborers to unpack pallets and dispose of the trash totaling to more than 30 hours per week. This is purely wast-ed time and money. Our goal for the project has been to reduce the amount of time and money it takes to unpack and dispose of packing materials and pallets.

CONTRIBUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS After looking at the surface of the problem, we began by examining the potential root causes. Those causes led us to create a SWOT analysis, process flow diagram as well as a floor plan flow analysis. These analyses began to illuminate the issue of wasted re-sources in the facility. Through further research, including interviews and a focus group, we were able to pinpoint specific inefficiencies in the client’s current process. The unsystematic way in which the material was delivered, unpacked and organized provided a significant window for improvement. Our team decided to design 3D CAD drawings of a reusable cart to provide the client with a more optimal and leaner meth-od of receiving and unpacking shipments in a faster and more organized manner. Fur-thermore, we developed an alternative floor plan analysis of an idealized state of the facility.

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NOTABLE PAST PROJECTS

FALL 2015: THE QUEST—SPECTRUM FOODS PROJECT PROJECT: INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

ALEX CHIARAMONTE

DELANTE DESOUZA

BEN HSIEH

BROGAN SHEEHEY

PROJECT SUMMARY

Our team worked with Spectrum Foods, a small, family-owned poultry distributor located in Landover, Maryland. The client supplies a wide range of products to grocery stores and restaurants in the area, including District Taco and Sardi’s Pollo a la Brasa. These products range from dry goods such as charcoal, rice, and beans to refrigerated and frozen goods such as chicken, beef, and crinkle-cut french fries. Currently, Spec-trum Foods is struggling to track both the physical flow and the data flow (in terms of inventory counts) of its inventory goods. As a result, Spectrum is experiencing waste due to incorrect shipments and a need for frequent, time-intensive visual inventory checks. More importantly, the company’s current state of inventory tracking is a clear impediment to future growth. A functional and complete inventory tracking system will enable them to keep track of their inventory flow while making room for expan-sion.

CONTRIBUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS We recommend that Spectrum Foods take two main actions to improve its inventory tracking. The first is to standardize processes by creating purchase orders for all incom-ing orders and by renegotiating with suppliers to ensure that most incoming products have barcodes. The second recommendation is to incorporate FoodConnex barcode scanning technology, featuring a SWAMI (Scan, Weigh, and Measure Instantly) sta-tion for each of the seven loading docks. The scanning solution also features a scale for weight-based product sales and three barcode printers for incoming products that arrive without barcodes. Alternative solutions that were considered, but not chosen, were handheld scanners and location-based barcodes. These solutions were eliminated due to the amount of change required to fit the technological solution as well as cost. The chosen recommendations will allow Spectrum Foods to reduce their time spent on physical inventory counts by 83% and increase their warehouse capacity by 4% and revenue by $3.6 million.

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PROJECT SPONSORS

The companies below have made significant contributions to our students as they completed their capstone learning projects. In addition to financial contributions, these sponsors have given enormous amounts of time and thought leadership to our student teams.

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QUEST would like to thank and acknowledge all of the individuals, committees, and organizations who have contributed to this event.

QUEST STUDENTS QUEST ALUMNI

FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND UNIVERSITY COLLEAGUES QUEST PARTNER COLLEGES

A. James Clark School of Engineering

College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences

Robert H. Smith School of Business

COURSE TEACHING ASSISTANT Kayla Sukri (Q25)

QUEST OFFICE ASSISTANT Brian Yuwen (Q28)

ROBERT H. SMITH EVENTS Jack Blaney

RIGGS ALUMNI CENTER Rhea Steen

CATERER The Chef’s Table

PHOTOGRAPHER Daniel Jenkins

JOURNALIST Lauren Black

STUDENT VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE Elizabeth Childs (Q30)

Harriet Dadzie (Q25)

Catie Denz (Q28)

Akshay Guthal (Q27)

Conrad Hong (Q27)

Angelina Lyubimova (Q27)

Nikhil Modi (Q30)

Meena Sengottuvelu (Q28)

Michael Vetter (Q28)

Jeffrey Zhao (Q28)

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QUEST DEV Rachit Agarwal (Q30) Eric Appelbaum (Q28)

Puneeth Bikkumanla (Q29) Tim Chen (Q28)

Jacqueline Deprey (Q30) Eric Ding (Q28)

Immanuel Garcia (Q29) Akshay Guthal (Q27)

Daniel Laurence (Q19) Joshua Loeffler (Q30) Julia Lomakina (Q26) Connor Petrelle (Q30) Neha Satapathy (Q30)

Dan Selzer (Q27) Christina Sowah (Q28) Rohan Sridharan (Q30)

Arun Srinivas (Q30) Ekansh Vinaik (Q30)

Jeffrey Zhao (Q28)

QUEST STUDENT ORGANIZATION (QSO)

Uva Dayalan (Q24) Clair Devaney (Q25)

Nadine Eloseily (Q29) Jill Gelinas (Q28)

Sherry Levine (Q26) Eleanna Makris (Q25) Melissa Maurer (Q29) Liam Mercer (Q28) Megha Reddy (Q27) Ankita Sahoo (Q30)

Napiera Shareef (Q27)

QUEST DEVELOPMENT SERIES (QDES) Kellen Liu (Q29)

Ishaan Parikh (Q28) Tuvia Rappaport (Q29)

Vineet Shah (Q30) Noah Vernick (Q28)

Joyce Zhou (Q29)

QUESTPRESS Kara Eppel (Q29)

Annesha Goswami (Q29) Andrew Jones (Q26)

Jacob King (Q27) Manas Kulkarni (Q18) Matt Masison (Q27) Karthik Menta (Q18)

Celine Moarkech (Q29) Chineme Obiefune (Q25)

Joseph Piscitelli (Q25) Caitlin Thompson (Q28) Samantha Weaver (Q26) Jacob Wilkowsky (Q19)

QUEST RECRUITING Silvia Caceres (Q27)

Nadine Eloseily (Q29) Kevin Jiang (Q30)

Shivani Krishnamurthy (Q30) Alissa Li (Q28)

Alexandra Malek (Q25) David Rosenstein (Q29)

Noah Vernick (Q28) Alvin Wang (Q26) Ryan Wong (Q25) Brian Yuwen (Q28) Joyce Zhou (Q29)

QUEST CORPORATE Melissa Maurer (Q29) Rahul Menon (Q28)

Nimit Patel (Q26) Prateek Sayyaparaju (Q28)

Erica Shields (Q26) Brayan Varghese (Q26) Michael Vetter (Q28) Ekansh Vinaik (Q30)

Regina Wingate (Q30) Olivia Wolcott (Q30)

Ryan Wong (Q25)

QUEST CREATIVE Angelina Bingei (Q25)

Brianna Ho (Q29) Matt Masison (Q27) Kelli Webber (Q29)

Ivy Xia (Q25)

CURRICULUM REVIEW COMMITTEE

Pamela Armstrong David Ashley

Joe Bailey Rohan Bajaj (Q26)

Charles Bond (Q27) Ben Brown (Q13)

Elizabeth Gillum (Q28) Jeffrey Herrmann Jessica Macklin Russell Ottalini James Purtilo Ivy Xia (Q25)

QUEST ALUMNI BOARD Mark Baumgardner (Q4)

Brian Bender (Q5) Kalika Bhusry (Q16)

Ben Brown (Q13) Max Cooper (Q19)

Debi Goldschlag (Q20) Shirley Han (Q19) Elaine Hui (Q18) Josh Kohn (Q18) Ben Krefting (Q7) Steve Kutchi (Q1)

Daniel Laurence (Q19) Karthik Menta (Q18)

Vidya Sathyamoorthy (Q16) Beth Schaeffer (Q4)

Masha Sitnova (Q17) Bryan Towns (Q7) Tony Wang (Q2)

Jacob Wilkowsky (Q19) Richard Wilson (Q6)

Aditya Yerramilli (Q14)