In his first State of the University address on Thursday, Ohio State University President Ravi Bellamkonda reflected on OSU's innovations, trailblazers and place in the world.
"Place matters and where we come from matters, and we draw our strength from that," Bellamkonda said. "And as I reflect at this time, particularly at the 250th anniversary of our nation's founding, I cannot help but realize and embrace the fact that our genesis comes from a radical embrace of innovation and boldness."
Bellamkonda noted that Ohio State's first class in 1873 included two women — a bold move at the time. He said OSU's record of academic excellence included creating the first functioning electron microscope, the founding of the youth organization 4-H, and inventing the world's first self-driving car.
Committing to AI fluency and research
Turning his gaze toward the future, Bellamkonda highlighted the university's recently announced partnership with Google, which is set to include an on-campus space for Google and access to Google's DeepMind artificial intelligence research laboratory.
Bellamkonda also reaffirmed the university's commitment to AI fluency — the idea that all students should understand how to use AI by the time they graduate.
Later, when asked about concerns around the safety of AI, Bellamkonda called the technology "transformative" and said that the university can't pretend it doesn't exist.
"The best way to moderate it is to have democratic access to AI and for more people to know what it is, know how to use it," Bellamkonda said.
He said that Ohio State has "particular expertise" in AI ethics and that the university is contributing to the dialogue through the Center for Responsible AI Governance, or CRAIG.
Bellamkonda characterized CRAIG as a collaboration between OSU's law school, computer science department, and business school aimed at researching AI safety and regulation. The center, which is funded by the National Science Foundation, is a collaboration between Ohio State, Baylor University, Northeastern University and Rutgers University.
Student entrepreneurship
Bellamkonda also stressed the importance of learning to solve complex problems, work on a team, and use analytical and communication skills.
He said one of the greatest qualities a student can have is an "entrepreneurial mindset" — the ability to imagine a product or process and make it real. That's why the university is going to bolster student entrepreneurship through a program called Build X.
"The idea is that we want 100 investable student startups coming out of Ohio State every year starting 2030," Bellamkonda said.
While the the goal of 100 startups a year might seem aspirational at first glance, Bellamkonda later said that OSU already has around 1,500 students "engaged in entrepreneurial activities."
"When I was starting college, the thing to do was to work for a large corporation," Bellamkonda said. "More and more of our students want to start their own companies."
Bellamkonda said a donor gave $1 million that is meant to exclusively support student startups. He expects the university to invest in about 20 such startups this year.
On Oct. 20, OSU will break ground on a new "tech tower" on west campus that will house life science and tech startups.
"It's going to be a beautiful tower, complementing the health care tower — but much smaller — on the other side of the highway," Bellamkonda said.
Investing in faculty and research
Ohio State also plans to support its faculty's aspirations with a transformative research fund. Bellamkonda said more details will be released in November, but that the idea is to award $1 million planning grants to about a half a dozen "big ideas" submitted by faculty.
Bellamkonda said the university would then help those projects find more funding through foundations, philanthropy, or federal agencies.
"The idea is to surface what I know exists already, amazing big ideas across our campus in the social sciences, health sciences, engineering, business, and all the things that we do," Bellamkonda said.
The finest public university
Bellamkonda said he wants Ohio State to become "the finest public university in the country."
"What does that mean? It means that we embrace who we are. We embrace our scale. We embrace our region. We embrace our mission, unapologetic," Bellamkonda said. "We don't need to be somebody else. We will be ourselves. We will not be unafraid to lead. And we will do this in the pursuit of excellence."
After his official speech — which started at 10:59 a.m. and ran for 33 minutes — Bellamkonda took questions from members of the press.
When asked about the decline in international enrollment at the university, Bellamkonda, who was once an international student himself, noted that people not born in the U.S. have contributed a lot to the country.
"I think the magic of our country is that we are a magnet for bright minds from all over the world, and we should continue to do that," Bellamkonda said.
He stressed that he doesn't support illegal immigration.
Bellamkonda also addressed the ongoing calls to remove New Albany billionaire Les Wexner's name from university buildings. He said he hopes to "conclude" the name review process by the end of the year.
