Purdue’s Chiang expands on 'inflection point' of industry-driven campus research model

If an 80-year-old system of federally driven research is going away, Purdue president lays out what he sees as a way forward for universities and the country. Plus, a bunch of This & That

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PURDUE’S MUNG CHIANG EXPANDS ON COMING INDUSTRY-DRIVEN CAMPUS RESEARCH MODEL

During a keynote talk before a tech-heavy crowd Tuesday in Indianapolis, Purdue President Mung Chiang expanded on a message he delivered last week to faculty on the University Senate, essentially suggesting universities needed to be prepared for a new focus on public-private partnerships to back campus research as a federal funding model of dating to the creation of the National Science Foundation in 1950 seemed to be in flux.

“Now at the midpoint between the end of World War II and the end of the 21st century, the American public wants to explore a new social contract where federal tax dollars assume a smaller portion of the financing equation for research carried out in universities,” Chiang told a crowd at SEMI Expo Heartland, a two-day conference meant to build steam for the semiconductor industry in Indiana and the rest of the Midwest.

(Photo: Dave Bangert)

“Daily twists and turns aside – is this mostly a transient process, or will it be long-lasting? – academia might not be going back to the same good ride of the past 75 years,” Chiang said. “A new equilibrium for university research could emerge. … If fundamental changes are coming ashore anyway, what can we do to maximize the vitality of university research in the new situation? In particular, how should universities work with private capital, both profit-seeking and philanthropic ones, in future decades?”

Here are a few snippets from his speech, which continued to signal some fundamental changes likely coming to the West Lafayette campus in what Chiang called an inflection point.