1 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:36,720 Please welcome Iowa State University President David Cook. 2 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:47,120 All right. 3 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:49,680 Well, I'm hearing great things about the conference so far. 4 00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:52,560 So I appreciate the introduction there. 5 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:56,520 And I'm up here to welcome everybody here to Iowa State University. 6 00:00:56,520 --> 00:00:58,160 We're really glad that you're here. 7 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:00,560 We're glad to be hosting this conference. 8 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:06,560 We're glad to have so many people from across the state, business leaders, innovators, decision makers here. 9 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:14,200 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. 10 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:17,760 It's so critical, especially in the age of AI right now. 11 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:24,240 I mean, it's changing so quickly, and we all probably have to work together to try our best to keep up. 12 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:26,800 I want to recognize a few folks here too. 13 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:30,960 Mike O'Donnell, the director of the Center for Industrial Research and Service, who is just up here. 14 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:31,840 Thank you. 15 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:34,560 Paul Gormley, who's also right in front of me. 16 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:37,600 And Jennifer Garcia, also from Cirrus Event Manager. 17 00:01:37,759 --> 00:01:39,920 Jennifer, did you sneak in the room somewhere? 18 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:41,039 There she is, yep. 19 00:01:41,039 --> 00:01:44,560 So why don't we give the three of them a round of applause for coordinating this? 20 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:51,600 Thanks for putting on such a great conference. 21 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:55,039 And of course, I also want to recognize and thank all the amazing speakers. 22 00:01:55,039 --> 00:01:58,479 I'm hearing great things already, and I know we've got more ahead. 23 00:01:58,479 --> 00:02:07,920 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. 24 00:02:07,920 --> 00:02:09,520 That's pretty practical. 25 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:16,560 So as a land-grant institution, Iowa State exists to serve Iowans and make the state stronger. 26 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:18,880 And that's why events like today are so critical. 27 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:22,200 We do this by pairing world-class researchers. 28 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:23,920 I know we're going to have some of those speaking here. 29 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:26,960 with world-class application. 30 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:40,320 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. 31 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:46,800 Artificial intelligence, of course, is one of the most powerful examples of us living out that mission every day. 32 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:56,240 AI is rapidly changing how the world works, how we get things done everywhere globally, but of course also across the state of Iowa. 33 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:02,160 We've kind of moved to this point where we don't even need to ask questions about does AI matter, right? 34 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:04,240 It's more about where's AI headed? 35 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:05,840 How can we all leverage it together? 36 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:07,200 How can we use that tool? 37 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:16,079 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? 38 00:03:16,079 --> 00:03:23,760 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. 39 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:26,320 The expectation for me is... 40 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:29,600 I've got to go do a listening tour for about 100 days. 41 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:32,480 I'm going to go talk to my bosses, the Board of Regents. 42 00:03:32,640 --> 00:03:34,160 I'm going to go into an executive session. 43 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:39,920 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. 44 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:41,680 And a big part, I will tell you, 45 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:45,040 of that vision is going to have to be about AI. 46 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:52,240 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. 47 00:03:52,240 --> 00:04:01,080 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. 48 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:06,400 And in all these, I've had 80, 90 different meetings where I'm out there trying to learn. 49 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:10,160 the topic of AI comes up, and it's a fascinating debate. 50 00:04:11,040 --> 00:04:13,920 Sometimes I'll be in front of a student group and they think it's bad. 51 00:04:13,920 --> 00:04:15,360 Sometimes they think it's good. 52 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:26,160 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. 53 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:29,040 So again, I want you to know that 54 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:32,400 We take great pride in bringing groups together like this. 55 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:36,320 We take great pride in Cirrus and the amazing work they do every day. 56 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:49,760 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. 57 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:51,760 I mean, how do you teach English 101? 58 00:04:52,159 --> 00:04:53,320 in the age of AI? 59 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:58,960 What does the first year curriculum look like at a research intensive university like Iowa State? 60 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:04,960 How do we leverage AI to enhance our operations, our back offices, the things that we do every day? 61 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:10,640 And certainly, you know, how do we embrace AI when we're thinking about research? 62 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:13,360 And so these are the big issues that are on our mind. 63 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,560 These are the big issues I know that you're going to be working out today. 64 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:21,200 And these are the things that we want to continue to learn and work 65 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:25,920 together on to make sure that we're doing everything we can for the state of Iowa. 66 00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:30,320 So with that, just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you for being here. 67 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:32,840 We're excited you're here and have a great conference. 68 00:05:32,840 --> 00:05:39,760 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. 69 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:41,280 So thanks, everybody, and welcome.