(Radio Iowa) – David Cook, who took over as Iowa State University’s president on March 1st, says he spent his first 100 days on the job on a listening and learning tour. “Next month I’ll go in front of the Board of Regents and I’ll give them a sense of really where I think vision of the university needs to go,” Cook said. “…I’m very fortunate to walk into a situation where a good foundation is there, but we have to continue to evolve and grow and challenge ourselves and think big.”
Cook is not revealing details now, but during an interview on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S this weekend Cook indicated he may be proposing new degree offerings. “One of the big questions is the role of A.I….and so new degrees that really figure out how to embrace that is going to be critical,” Cook said. “Certainly looking at our role around agriculture and new degrees in that space based on the evolving economy are also critical in where we’re going.”
The Iowa Nutrient Research Center at Iowa State University supports projects to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus run-off into Iowa surface waters. Cook says his vision plan will likely suggest investing in new technology that provides real-time data on water quality. “We have drone technology now that can go do the sampling and immediately, I think it’s 7 minutes, do the analysis and get the analysis back to the lab,” Cook said.
Cook grew up in Ames and got his undergraduate degree from Iowa State. He was president of North Dakota State University in the four years before he was hired to lead Iowa State.
