ISU President’s Address
General
ISU President to address the Summit Attendees.
Session Recording
Session Data
Transcript from Summit:
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iowa state university conference welcome artificial intelligence business leaders center for industrial research and service
Please welcome Iowa State University President David Cook. All right. Well, I'm hearing great things about the conference so far. So I appreciate the introduction there. And I'm up here to welcome everybody here to Iowa State University. We're really glad that you're here. We're glad to be hosting this conference. We're glad to have so many people from across the state, business leaders, innovators, decision makers here. Obviously, to learn from a little bit of what we have on the agenda, but also for us to learn from you and for all of us, I think, to learn together. It's so critical, especially in the age of AI right now. I mean, it's changing so quickly, and we all probably have to work together to try our best to keep up. I want to recognize a few folks here too. Mike O'Donnell, the director of the Center for Industrial Research and Service, who is just up here. Thank you. Paul Gormley, who's also right in front of me.
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And Jennifer Garcia, also from Cirrus Event Manager. Jennifer, did you sneak in the room somewhere? There she is, yep. So why don't we give the three of them a round of applause for coordinating this? Thanks for putting on such a great conference. And of course, I also want to recognize and thank all the amazing speakers. I'm hearing great things already, and I know we've got more ahead. So that's what makes it such a special conference to see the great work and the great things that we're doing in business and industry, and especially business and industry in Iowa. That's pretty practical. So as a land-grant institution, Iowa State exists to serve Iowans and make the state stronger. And that's why events like today are so critical. We do this by pairing world-class researchers. I know we're going to have some of those speaking here. with world-class application. Our tagline is science to practice, and I've always loved that, this notion that we're doing great science all the time, but we're doing it in a way that makes a difference in our state, and that's, of course, what the land grant is certainly all about.
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Artificial intelligence, of course, is one of the most powerful examples of us living out that mission every day. AI is rapidly changing how the world works, how we get things done everywhere globally, but of course also across the state of Iowa. We've kind of moved to this point where we don't even need to ask questions about does AI matter, right? It's more about where's AI headed? How can we all leverage it together? How can we use that tool? And how can we use it with great confidence, but I'd also say with ensuring that we're embracing the ethical aspects of it? So I've been spending my first couple 100 days running around campus, meeting faculty, staff, and students, and AI is a very hot topic. The expectation for me is... I've got to go do a listening tour for about 100 days. I'm going to go talk to my bosses, the Board of Regents. I'm going to go into an executive session. I'm going to come out the other side of that, and they're going to expect me to kind of set a vision for where we need to go as an institution. And a big part, I will tell you, of that vision is going to have to be about AI.
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So it's fun for me to see what's happening here and to learn because it's going to have to inform the great work we're already doing. And I got to tell you, I'm tripping over what we're doing in AI every day on the job, but also thinking about how we combine this strategically to set the right kind of vision. And in all these, I've had 80, 90 different meetings where I'm out there trying to learn. the topic of AI comes up, and it's a fascinating debate. Sometimes I'll be in front of a student group and they think it's bad. Sometimes they think it's good. A lot of times we talk about embracing the ethical use of AI and all the rest, and that's certainly where I am and where I think this is all extremely, extremely critical. So again, I want you to know that We take great pride in bringing groups together like this. We take great pride in Cirrus and the amazing work they do every day. We also, as an institution, want to listen and learn to all of you to help us think about where we need to go, what's our role with workforce, how do we serve the state, how do we educate future students, especially as it relates to AI.
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I mean, how do you teach English 101? in the age of AI? What does the first year curriculum look like at a research intensive university like Iowa State? How do we leverage AI to enhance our operations, our back offices, the things that we do every day? And certainly, you know, how do we embrace AI when we're thinking about research? And so these are the big issues that are on our mind. These are the big issues I know that you're going to be working out today. And these are the things that we want to continue to learn and work together on to make sure that we're doing everything we can for the state of Iowa. So with that, just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you for being here. We're excited you're here and have a great conference. And thanks again for Sirius and their leadership, as you always are doing, kind of leading the way on the cutting edge and making our state better. So thanks, everybody, and welcome.
Please welcome Iowa State University President David Cook. All right. Well, I'm hearing great things about the conference so far. So I appreciate the introduction there.
And I'm up here to welcome everybody here to Iowa State University. We're really glad that you're here. We're glad to be hosting this conference. We're glad to have so many people from across the state, business leaders, innovators, decision makers here.
Obviously, to learn from a little bit of what we have on the agenda, but also for us to learn from you and for all of us, I think, to learn together. It's so critical, especially in the age of AI right now. I mean, it's changing so quickly, and we all probably have to work together to try our best to keep up. I want to recognize a few folks here too.
Mike O'Donnell, the director of the Center for Industrial Research and Service, who is just up here. Thank you. Paul Gormley, who's also right in front of me. And Jennifer Garcia, also from Cirrus Event Manager.
Jennifer, did you sneak in the room somewhere? There she is, yep. So why don't we give the three of them a round of applause for coordinating this? Thanks for putting on such a great conference.
And of course, I also want to recognize and thank all the amazing speakers. I'm hearing great things already, and I know we've got more ahead. So that's what makes it such a special conference to see the great work and the great things that we're doing in business and industry, and especially business and industry in Iowa. That's pretty practical.
So as a land-grant institution, Iowa State exists to serve Iowans and make the state stronger. And that's why events like today are so critical. We do this by pairing world-class researchers. I know we're going to have some of those speaking here. with world-class application.
Our tagline is science to practice, and I've always loved that, this notion that we're doing great science all the time, but we're doing it in a way that makes a difference in our state, and that's, of course, what the land grant is certainly all about. Artificial intelligence, of course, is one of the most powerful examples of us living out that mission every day. AI is rapidly changing how the world works, how we get things done everywhere globally, but of course also across the state of Iowa. We've kind of moved to this point where we don't even need to ask questions about does AI matter, right?
It's more about where's AI headed? How can we all leverage it together? How can we use that tool? And how can we use it with great confidence, but I'd also say with ensuring that we're embracing the ethical aspects of it?
So I've been spending my first couple 100 days running around campus, meeting faculty, staff, and students, and AI is a very hot topic. The expectation for me is... I've got to go do a listening tour for about 100 days. I'm going to go talk to my bosses, the Board of Regents.
I'm going to go into an executive session. I'm going to come out the other side of that, and they're going to expect me to kind of set a vision for where we need to go as an institution. And a big part, I will tell you, of that vision is going to have to be about AI. So it's fun for me to see what's happening here and to learn because it's going to have to inform the great work we're already doing.
And I got to tell you, I'm tripping over what we're doing in AI every day on the job, but also thinking about how we combine this strategically to set the right kind of vision. And in all these, I've had 80, 90 different meetings where I'm out there trying to learn. the topic of AI comes up, and it's a fascinating debate. Sometimes I'll be in front of a student group and they think it's bad. Sometimes they think it's good.
A lot of times we talk about embracing the ethical use of AI and all the rest, and that's certainly where I am and where I think this is all extremely, extremely critical. So again, I want you to know that We take great pride in bringing groups together like this. We take great pride in Cirrus and the amazing work they do every day. We also, as an institution, want to listen and learn to all of you to help us think about where we need to go, what's our role with workforce, how do we serve the state, how do we educate future students, especially as it relates to AI.
I mean, how do you teach English 101? in the age of AI? What does the first year curriculum look like at a research intensive university like Iowa State? How do we leverage AI to enhance our operations, our back offices, the things that we do every day? And certainly, you know, how do we embrace AI when we're thinking about research?
And so these are the big issues that are on our mind. These are the big issues I know that you're going to be working out today. And these are the things that we want to continue to learn and work together on to make sure that we're doing everything we can for the state of Iowa. So with that, just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you for being here.
We're excited you're here and have a great conference. And thanks again for Sirius and their leadership, as you always are doing, kind of leading the way on the cutting edge and making our state better. So thanks, everybody, and welcome.