On a RollPresident Jayathi Murthy on turning challenges into opportunities in turbulent times.

Q: The National Science Foundation just announced that an OSU consortium will receive $160 million to advance semiconductor design, manufacturing and workforce training. How big of a deal is this, and what does it say about OSU’s role in the state’s future?

A: It’s a big deal. We are the largest university in Oregon. We are its land-grant university. This underlines the role that we play across the state of Oregon. We not only educate new generations of Oregonians, but also drive discovery and the translation of discovery into useful work.

This is exactly what we want to be doing — bringing federal dollars to Oregon and using those dollars to create prosperity for Oregonians.  Fifteen percent of our nation’s workforce in semiconductors already sits right here in Oregon. The FAST grant will help us grow and modernize that workforce.

So it’s a big transformation. We estimate that this effort will add 25,000 new jobs to the region and 180 new startups over the next decade. OSU and our academic partners believe that we can add 4,000 graduates a year to the workforce by the end of this project. We’re planning to do some very big things. [Editor’s note: Learn more about FAST.]

Q: This news comes during a time of major milestones, including the upcoming opening of the Jen-Hsun Huang and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex. Do you see OSU entering a new era? 

A: The Jen-Hsun Huang and Lori Mills Huang Collaborative Innovation Complex will be the heart of artificial intelligence at OSU and at the heart of AI across Oregon. We’ve been thinking about what’s special about AI in Oregon and what’s special about AI at OSU. And I will tell you that the confluence of AI plus everything Oregon is what’s gotten us excited. It’s AI and agriculture, AI and farming, AI and forestry, AI and oceans and rivers, and of course all the other things that OSU does so well. AI and robotics, for example. 

We’re thinking about how we can create these verticals in the Huang Complex and about the role that OSU can play in bringing constructive use of AI to Oregon. How can we be at the heart of understanding where AI can be helpful? How can we support its use in constructive and useful ways? 

“There’s always good, deep science to be done.”

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 What may seem unrelated, but which is related in all kinds of interesting ways, is that we’ve also just hired Kevin Griffin from Ohio State to be our new athletics director. He brings dedication to student-athletes, real expertise in revenue generation, strategic communication and branding, which are all going to be key to another new era for Oregon State. And interestingly, he brings an interest in athletics plus AI, which we’ve only just begun to think about. A lot of things are coming together all at once. 

Q: Can you give an example of athletics plus AI?

A: Say a student-athlete is injured. Given the history of their health, can we figure out if they can play the next time around? What are the risks? Likewise, can we figure out the next play given the configuration on the field and the history of the players? There’s a big universe of possibilities. We’re going to have to find our way to using AI to our advantage and using it ethically as well.  

Q: All these wins seem especially significant because this time last year we were talking about disruptions to research funding. What’s changed? A: We are on a roll, but federal funding challenges remain. The ground has certainly shifted. I am grateful that we didn’t see the big cuts that were proposed in the president’s budget. That support from Congress is really heartening. But the money also has to flow, and that’s been difficult. We’ll sort it out, and in many ways, we’ve been quite fortunate. FAST is a big example of how federal dollars are still flowing to us. 

The other thing I want to say is that priorities have shifted, but they’ve also shifted in directions that in some cases are quite good for OSU — for example, toward AI and robotics.

Our approach has been to take advantage of the things that we can. We’re finding opportunities and being agile and creative. I remain very bullish on our areas of success. 

Q: Have we seen the big cuts to climate science research that were feared? 

A: There’s certainly a pulling away of investments in climate science, and we see the fallout from that. But there are related areas that we can focus on. So for example, a lot of our geosciences folks are now talking about work in critical minerals. Can there be clean ways of harvesting critical minerals? Are there chemical processes that we could be doing better? All of these things are pathways for us. They’re related to the science that we do and related to the kind of expertise that we have — just applied in a somewhat different way and a somewhat different field. There’s always good, deep science to be done. 

Q: There has been a lot in the news about the financial pressures facing Oregon public universities, and alumni are undoubtedly wondering how OSU is faring. How would you describe our position?

There are big demographic challenges facing all universities — the number of college-age students is falling — and, of course, the federal landscape continues to evolve in terms of research dollars. But what is unique to Oregon is that while these things are broadly true across the United States, our state funding is chronically low, and labor costs here are particularly high. 

Balancing those costs with revenue from tuition has been a challenge in our state. We also face this, but unlike some Oregon universities, we’re not in crisis. We continue to see encouraging enrollment numbers, but we need to compete aggressively for continued growth. 

We are in a unique position because we happen to be invested in areas that continue to draw very heavy interest — engineering, STEM and so on. Our College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences is extremely well known. We are a premier school for agriculture and forestry. We have one of the largest engineering schools in the country. We have a big, highly ranked online program. We’re invested in areas that still draw enormous interest. I feel like our enrollment success is probably tied to that unique position. 

Public trust in American higher education is also at historically low levels. Do you think that’s affecting enrollment, too?  I suspect that demographics is really the biggest part of it, but let me say something that I was struck by. You’ve probably heard of the Yale University report about public trust in higher education that came out this spring. It was a big report that took a year to write and had more than 300 sources. Much was made of it by the media. And yet, at the end of the day, what it calls for is for higher ed to commit to values that have been part of our land-grant mission for a century, if not more.

I mean, we’ve been doing this forever, and for Yale to have woken up and suddenly discovered that this is the secret! It just kind of had me laughing for a while. 

We’ve always been about impact in our communities for all Oregonians, regardless of geography. We’ve always known that discoveries matter. We’ve always known that we’ve got to be an engine for prosperity. So I don’t know why the folks at Yale suddenly realized that this is the magic formula, but I will tell you that our public land-grants are a treasure. We’ve always known what our role is. 

Q: We’ve talked about challenges, but Oregon State’s alumni and friends have also stepped up recently in pretty extraordinary ways. What does that say to you about this community and the university’s future? 

A: First of all, there’s simply moral support, right? Our alumni and friends have been with us through extraordinarily turbulent times these past couple of years and I want to say how grateful I am for that support. Another part of it is, of course, philanthropic support. This year on Dam Proud Day, we raised about $4.1 million across 12,000-plus gifts. That is a very broad range of support and tells you how deeply committed our community is to this university. Thank you for that!

This year we surpassed $400 million toward a $500 million fundraising goal for student success in our Believe It! campaign. It tells you so much about our community’s commitment to our students. I mean, that’s a heck of a number, and I’m so proud of it. 

There’s also the Valley Foundation’s challenge gift for athletics. This is $24 million, and we unlock it by raising another $24 million — $8 million every year for the next three years. I can’t begin to tell you how important that is in these days of college athletics reconfiguring itself. This funds revenue sharing for our student-athletes. It will allow us to build a competitive program in this new universe. With the transition to the new Pac-12 on July 1, it really puts us in an absolutely fantastic place. So thanks again to our alums for making that happen.  [Editor’s note: Two more athletics gifts were announced after this interview. See Backing the Beavs for more info.]

Q: Is there anything else you want to share? 

A: We enter the new school year with enormous momentum. Lots of good things are happening. There’s no question that there are challenges ahead of us, but we are entering it with so much promise. So when you hear things about loss of confidence in higher ed and all of the challenges, know that we’ve got a very strong base from which we’re entering these turbulent waters. We’ve got great students and great professors. We’ve got great folks in athletics and we’ve got great administrators. We will see ourselves through. We are going to do just fine.