Podcast Ep. 111: Dan Hasler and David Umulis Discuss Purdue’s New Indianapolis Campus

Dan Hasler:

This is Dan Hasler-

David Umulis:

and David Umulis-

Dan Hasler:

… and you’re listening to-

David Umulis:

… This Is Purdue.

Kate Young:

Hi, I’m Kate Young and you are listening to This Is Purdue, the official podcast for Purdue University. As a Purdue alum and Indiana native, I know firsthand about the family of students and professors who are in it together, persistently pursuing and relentlessly rethinking. Who are the next game changers, difference makers, ceiling breakers, innovators, who are these boilermakers? Join me as we feature students, faculty, and alumni taking small steps toward their giant leaps and inspiring others to do the same.

David Umulis:

Purdue University has been in West Lafayette since the beginning, a land-grant institution over 150 years, and it’s done an amazing job in West Lafayette and in the state. With the urban campus, it brings something new that we don’t have in West Lafayette. It’s a lot closer to a lot of industries and companies where our students will go and we’re going to partner with as part of their academic experience. It just brings a different type of atmosphere that’s good for students that are interested in an urban setting, but also for staff and faculty more interested in an urban setting and what you can access in a city.

Dan Hasler:

I’m really excited to see what kind of student this is. I think they’re going to be more entrepreneurial. I think they’re going to lean into risk a little more because there is a newness here, right? We’re building something and there’s a little ambiguity. I think this is going to be a really, really cool first-class freshman.

Kate Young:

In this episode of This Is Purdue. We’re talking to Dan Hasler, Chief Operating Officer and David Umulis, Senior Vice Provost and Chief Academic Officer of Purdue University in Indianapolis. This episode is a really special one. First of all, Purdue and Indianapolis is one of Purdue’s next giant leaps. It’s the new extension of our flagship campus, bringing the academic rigor and research excellence we’re known for to Indiana’s Capital City while investing in and partnering with Indianapolis to significantly grow the tech-driven economy throughout the state. Plus, Purdue in Indy is one of Purdue President, Mung Chiang’s strategic initiatives. And reason number two, it’s an extra special podcast, this episode is part of our podcast series called Boilermaker Bites, where we interview incredible Boilermaker guests at iconic restaurants. And there’s no better place to discuss Purdue’s first comprehensive urban campus than over a delicious meal at Harry & Izzy’s, an incredible downtown indie restaurant. Just four short minutes from the Purdue and Indianapolis campus.

To give you some quick additional background on both Dan and David. Dan is the former Indiana commerce secretary and Eli Lilly and Company executive who also held several high-level roles for Purdue University and Purdue Research Foundation. David is the director of the National Science Foundation, Embryo Institute, and former head of Purdue’s Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. Both have strong Boilermaker ties and they’ll share their Purdue stories more in-depth throughout the interview. So to set the stage for you all briefly, I want to also describe the look and feel of Harry & Izzy’s. It’s got that timeless classic look with dark wood paneling and old-school photos, adorning many of the walls. It’s the sister restaurant to the famous St. Elmo Steak House right next door, a landmark in Downtown Indy since 1902. Both of these restaurants have earned a reputation for their excellent steaks, seafood chops, and professional service.

So let’s get into my conversation with Dan and David while we dine over one of the most iconic dishes in Indiana, world-famous St. Elmo, Shrimp Cocktail, plus other amazing bites like scallops and steak. Oh, and warning, this episode will likely make you a bit hungry. David and Dan, thank you so much for joining us on This is Purdue. We’re at Harry & Izzy’s, Downtown Indianapolis. We’re four minutes from the new Purdue and Indy campus. Thank you so much for being here.

Dan Hasler:

I know we’re very excited.

David Umulis:

It’s fantastic. Thanks for the invitation.

Kate Young:

Of course. Well, we’re going to have some delicious food. I’m sure you all have frequented here a lot, so I want to hear your takes on what to order, what we should get, and then, we’ll go in-depth on Purdue and Indianapolis.

Dan Hasler:

Great. Sounds good.

David Umulis:

Yeah, absolutely.

Dan Hasler:

What do you like?

David Umulis:

Oh, man. Anywhere you go on the menu, you’re going to win. So definitely-

Julia:

Hello, everyone.

David Umulis:

… the Shrimp Cocktail.

Kate Young:

Hello.

David Umulis:

Oh, hi.

Julia:

How are we doing today?

Kate Young:

Great.

David Umulis:

Great. How are you?

Kate Young:

How are you?

Julia:

I’m pretty well myself. My name’s Julia. I’ll be your server today. Have you all been in before?

Kate Young:

Yes.

David Umulis:

Yep.

Julia:

Awesome. Welcome back. If I’ll share a little history behind the place.

Kate Young:

Yes, please.

David Umulis:

Sounds good.

Julia:

We are the sister restaurant at St. Elmo Steak House. They’re the oldest steakhouse in Indianapolis and they’re right next door. That steakhouse, it’s been open since 1902. So we have a lot of history, you can see on the walls and everything. We’d like to keep that history alive.

Kate Young:

Yes.

Julia:

Like you said, the Shrimp Cocktail, that’s what we’re most famous for, it is world-famous. It has that horseradish sauce in it, so it’s going to clear them sinuses up, give you a little slap in the face, and then, I have you over it.

Dan Hasler:

First time today, slap in the face. All right, bring it on.

Julia:

Can I get us started with any drinks besides water?

Dan Hasler:

I’d take an Iced Tea, please, unsweetened.

David Umulis:

An Arnold Palmer, please. Thank you.

Julia:

Awesome.

Kate Young:

I’m good with water.

Julia:

Thank you.

Kate Young:

Okay, thank you.

Julia:

I’ll bring this out first.

Dan Hasler:

Thank you.

Julia:

You’re welcome.

Dan Hasler:

We’re going to get slapped in the face.

David Umulis:

Have you had it before?

Dan Hasler:

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

David Umulis:

We’ll have some fun with that.

Dan Hasler:

Absolutely.

David Umulis:

Okay. So I know both of you, you’ve worked in Indiana for many years, held many different positions. You David, have a background with Purdue University. But what made both of you want to pursue this unique role within Purdue on Indianapolis?

Dan Hasler:

So there I was minding my own business-

David Umulis:

It’s all most story start.

Dan Hasler:

… growing vegetables. So honestly, I had served as Secretary of Commerce for the state of Indiana. Grew up mostly in Indianapolis, so it was all about drawing companies and creating jobs in central Indiana. So I know the area pretty well. And then, I had the gift of getting to work at Purdue for seven years, partially as the president of the foundation and part of the time was the chief marketing officer. And so I kind of said when I heard this announcement, I said, “You know, this sounds like something I need to be a part of.” It’s a startup, but yet it’s a startup of established processes. There’s going to be a lot of ambiguity. There’s no job description, and when there’s no job description, it’s like when I get my jollies, and that was before I even knew I was going to get to work with David.

David Umulis:

Absolutely. Yeah. For me, I love Indianapolis. I’ve been in Indiana for 16 years. I’ve been in Purdue University for 16 years and I love Purdue University. Put the two together, it’s a win-win. Before this, I was head of the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering and through that, made a lot of connections with a lot of companies and the hospitals in the Indianapolis area. And it’s really an area that just saw this as the secret sauce, the right recipe to do something really big for something that Purdue can grow into more. And plus the sports ecosystem around here is fantastic.

Kate Young:

Yes.

David Umulis:

The intramural sports, the sports corporation that established this place is a place for amateur sports nationwide and the infrastructure on the city is fantastic. I have very athletic kids and that we’re down in Indianapolis all the time for swimming, or basketball, or volleyball, or whatever. And just a lot in the city that draws me here and we’ll draw students here.

Dan Hasler:

Now, what I’m really excited about though is David’s promised me that when we’re all done, this ball’s been knocked out of the park. We get to start a biomedical engineering company together.

Kate Young:

Wow.

David Umulis:

Absolutely.

Dan Hasler:

He’s got the stuff. I can put the sizzle on it.

Kate Young:

You guys are already thinking a future ventures together.

David Umulis:

Oh, yeah.

Dan Hasler:

Oh, yeah.

Kate Young:

So we touched on we’re right Downtown, right here. What does this mean that it’s the first comprehensive urban campus for Purdue? Can you all touch on that a little bit?

David Umulis:

Purdue University has been in West Lafayette since the beginning, a land-grant institution over 150 years, and it’s done an amazing job in West Lafayette and in the state. With the urban campus, it brings something new that we don’t have in West Lafayette. It’s a lot closer to a lot of industries and companies where our students will go and we’re going to partner with as part of their academic experience. It just brings a different type of atmosphere that’s good for students that are interested in an urban setting, but also for staff and faculty more interested in an urban setting and what you can access in a city. So it really adds a new aspect to Purdue University that you don’t get with West Lafayette all by itself.

Dan Hasler:

And that’s for a student that might want to spend four years here or just a semester here and seven semesters at West Lafayette. The interesting thing is what we’re seeing is Purdue has 80,000 applicants a year for about 9,200 spots. And frankly, it could be bigger, believe it or not, there are young people around the world that as great as West Lafayette is are looking for something a little more. They may live in a big city. So we’re seeing a new cohort of student interested in Purdue because they know at least as part of that experience, they can be in a big city and get a job experience or a co-op experience while they’re there. So it’s going to really up the game in terms of the number of students looking at West Lafayette and Indianapolis as a combined experience.

Kate Young:

Sure, that makes sense. If you want to walk around, be in the big city, experience the sports, right?

Dan Hasler:

Yeah.

Kate Young:

It’s a little bit different field than West Lafayette’s campus.

Dan Hasler:

Yeah, can be. Yeah.

Kate Young:

Okay, so I know you guys are experienced here. What are we ordering? What’s your go-to at Harry & Izzy’s?

Dan Hasler:

I’m a scallop snob. I know I should order steak.

David Umulis:

Not steak?

Dan Hasler:

I know, I know.

David Umulis:

Why? Those are awesome.

Dan Hasler:

They’re insane.

David Umulis:

Oh, man.

Dan Hasler:

I can cook steak… Well, I can’t cook them like that. I can reasonably cook a steak. I can’t cook a scallop.

Kate Young:

Okay.

Dan Hasler:

So I always get scallop.

Kate Young:

David, what about you?

David Umulis:

You know what draws me, Izzy Style New York Strip. The Izzy Style is totally unique and I’ve never had it anywhere else where it’s coated in black pepper, so it’s got a spice to it, but then it has a citrus sauce, which you don’t normally have with steak, but it really works.

Dan Hasler:

Can we split a calamari?

David Umulis:

Absolutely. Calamari here is fantastic. It is outstanding.

Kate Young:

All right.

Dan Hasler:

Actually, I might not want to split. We’ll split. We’ll split. It’s okay. It’s just launch.

David Umulis:

I’m not sure you’ll get a choice if it’s there.

Dan Hasler:

I’m watching you.

David Umulis:

I’m just stretching my belly anyway.

Kate Young:

Okay, so we will get our orders in. As we move through our questions, Purdue and Indianapolis is an extension like we talked about of the West Lafayette campus. What does that mean for our listeners and viewers? Why is it important for Purdue to be in Indy?

Dan Hasler:

I think it’s mostly transferability, right? Whether you’re on the West Lafayette campus or the Indy campus, the curriculum’s the same, the calendar is the same, the faculty are going to go back and forth. So transferability is so much easier. You don’t have to have an act of Congress to transfer from West Lafayette to Indy. And that’s what we want, we want students either to be able to have three years here and a year there or vice versa and have it be completely seamless for the student and the faculty.

Julia:

Did we want to start with the shrimp cocktail or any appetizers today?

David Umulis:

You mentioned calamari.

Dan Hasler:

You do cocktail. I’ll do calamari.

David Umulis:

All right, deal.

Julia:

Perfect.

David Umulis:

So as he mentioned, it’s an extension of West Lafayette. So we have 60 miles to the North, West Lafayette campus and a lot of industry around there, Hypersonics, Research, CHIPS. And a lot of different industries at this bookend of this hard tech corridor. And in the middle is a huge investment in advanced manufacturing with Eli Lilly and other companies putting a lot of emphasis in Lebanon. So we are at both ends of that to provide the workforce for what’s in between, but also what’s at both ends. If you have all the courses that you will need and a degree or major that’s here, you will have access to here. But if you have a specialty course or other course that you can only take in West Lafayette, hop on the bus, get up to West Lafayette, there’s going to be regular transportation to connect these campuses and you’ll be able to work in that space as well while you’re going from one to the other.

Dan Hasler:

We also want companies and research partners to come to the Indianapolis campus and feel like they are in the hole. The Indianapolis campus is the other end of the wormhole to West Lafayette. So all the power and the abilities of West Lafayette are immediately translated to Indianapolis. So companies that want to work with us or do research with us may want to do that in Indianapolis and not necessarily have to build or move to West Lafayette to do it.

David Umulis:

And students can do it right from the very beginning of their program as first year students. There’s programs like EPICS and the Data Mine that are partnered with companies that are just down the street. And so students will get going right away with these companies.

Dan Hasler:

The fun thing about this first class, so enrollments well on the applications and the acceptances look great. I’m really excited to see what kind of student this is. I think they’re going to be more entrepreneurial. I think they’re going to lean into risk a little more because there is a newness here, right? We’re building something and there’s a little ambiguity. Some people are good with that, some people are excited about it. I think this is going to be a really, really cool first class freshman.

David Umulis:

Yeah, I’m excited to see. I’m excited to meet them. A lot of them have come in for visits, really excited. A lot of momentum behind this. Meeting the parents, they know, they understand, they’re also excited.

Kate Young:

Touch on a little bit more about those degree programs and what’s exciting about the Purdue and Indianapolis opportunities when it comes to those different degrees. The direct admit to engineering opportunities.

David Umulis:

Yeah. Right out of the gate, we’re going to have extremely high demand majors offered in Indianapolis. Some of the highest demand majors are in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, and then, programs in Polytech that get into Cybersecurity, Information Technology. And we also have some fun programs that are really unique and take advantage of being in Indianapolis already. So Motorsports Engineering, the only nationally ABET accredited Motorsports program, and that is in Indianapolis, just down the street from the Speedway, Indiana. And a huge interest for incoming students. Mechanical Engineering degrees will open lots of doors. Having a Motorsports Engineering degree given by the Mechanical Engineering department, open some hard to open doors even more.

Kate Young:

Yes. Right in the racing capital-

David Umulis:

Right in the capital.

Kate Young:

… of the world.

David Umulis:

And you talked about computer science, didn’t you?

Dan Hasler:

Yeah, computer science. Yeah.

David Umulis:

And so there’s a lot of eagerness from the companies to see that the training go from the theory, and then, the classroom into having an impact of what they’re doing. As students or interns or co-ops and things like that right at the beginning.

Dan Hasler:

But in the split we were very careful to negotiate our ability to broaden and do new things. That was very important to us. We could have an agreement that said, “Okay, both schools have to stay in the lane.” Which would’ve kept us from bringing a lot of other very interesting programs to Indianapolis over time, like the Daniels School of Business and Executive Education, Nursing, Hospitality, and Tourism, all kinds of things that currently aren’t in Indy but look like they might have demand in Indy.

David Umulis:

So that’s what it means to be comprehensive here. But as part of this curriculum, we’re bringing in our award-winning Liberal Arts faculty. So we have the full cornerstone program administered from West Lafayette and other faculty. Because you have the breadth of courses that you have within your academic disciplines and those will be here.

Kate Young:

Amazing. Proud CLA alum myself.

David Umulis:

Oh, good. That’s awesome.

Kate Young:

Yeah.

David Umulis:

And here we are.

Kate Young:

Yeah, and look where we’re at now.

David Umulis:

Look where we are. We’re going to have lunch at Harry & Izzy’s.

Kate Young:

Yeah. Okay. So what kinds of experiences will students have in Indy? We talked about a little bit, but the experiences will be different in Downtown Indy versus the West Lafayette campus.

Dan Hasler:

Yeah. Well, we’re in the middle of a city with tons and tons of things to do. So when we benchmarked other schools that do this really well in LA or Boston, what you found was the students, when it was done well, viewed the entire city as their canvas, as their playground. And likewise, the community viewed the campus as a place that was welcoming to them that they could participate in the programs. So the advantage of time in Indy is there’s so many… Go to an Indians game, Colts games, so many more concerts, things that are already happening within a bike’s ride away that you don’t necessarily get at West Lafayette. The trade is, there aren’t as many of the typical college activities that they’re not… It’s going to be hard for them to go to a football game. So there’s a little bit of a trade-off there. They can, and we’re going to make sure they have the transportation ability to do so. But it’s a different kind of an experience.

And again, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. It can be a piece of each, which is really the magic. I don’t like ors, I only like ands.

David Umulis:

Exactly.

Dan Hasler:

And I think most people are the same way. If I can have a little bit of both… What’s the other one? I don’t want a lot of something. I just want a little bit of everything.

Julia:

The cracker helps with the spice of the shrimp.

David Umulis:

Oh, all right.

Kate Young:

Oh, really?

Julia:

It’s like you’re melting

David Umulis:

Open that if you can’t handle and it’s fine.

Dan Hasler:

I’m guessing also, you’re not going to open yours?

David Umulis:

No.

Dan Hasler:

All right.

Kate Young:

You guys both like spice?

Dan Hasler:

I think he likes it better than I do.

David Umulis:

We’ll see. It’s been a while.

Dan Hasler:

I don’t want to start sweating.

David Umulis:

I remember it vividly. Once you try it, it’s imprinted in your mind. It doesn’t take repetition you.

Kate Young:

I do remember it.

Dan Hasler:

If you start sweating, I’m going to force-feed you a cracker.

David Umulis:

Okay. All right, all right. Yeah, and so-

Kate Young:

So anything else about-

David Umulis:

Sure.

Kate Young:

Yeah, the experiences and how they’re going to be different.

David Umulis:

With the transportation, West Lafayette students will be able to come down and take advantage of some of these experiences much easier than you can now. But yes, this is and and it’s also adding more choice. There’s a lot of students in West Lafayette now who are really eager to do part of their degree in Indianapolis and we’re making the ways for that to take place and happen. We will have a lot of seniors and other students in Indianapolis next year doing learning while working in other programs, continuing their degrees by doing the semesters down in Indianapolis.

Dan Hasler:

One of the cool things about Purdue is, as you know, it’s annually named as one of the most innovative companies in the world. The reason that is, is because there are large numbers of people in this university that aren’t afraid to try new things and try something different and are willing to risk failure, fast failure in order to do it. So you’ll see that happening here. Some things will work, some things won’t kill the things that don’t work and try new things to replace them and constantly iterate to get to the optimum model, right? So like any startup, there’s no playbook. There’s no procedure book that has been laid out. We’re literally writing it as we learn and writing it as we see what works and what doesn’t. It’s really cool.

Kate Young:

And I mean, it’s nice to have a transition in a city to kind of ease you out of that college maybe bubble or that college lifestyle at a smaller town campus. So that’s a really cool idea that you can spend time at both campuses if that’s what you want to do. So Dan, we’ve heard a lot about corporate partnerships being a key to this Indianapolis experience. With your breadth of experience in your career, what do you think some of these partnerships will bring to fruition? What are you excited to see about those?

Dan Hasler:

Well, honestly, the reason this is happening is because of the demand of the corporate community in Indianapolis. We want these students to stay in Indianapolis or in Indiana when they graduate. We believe that they’re more likely to do that if they have had a relationship with a company through a co-op or an internship. We’re going to need a lot of these companies and they are starting to step up and say, I want some students. I want to do a co-op. I want to do internships. We have programs because we want to know the students as bad as the students want to know us, that will cause the stickiness. So I always tell people it’s a lot easier to leave a place than it is to leave a relationship. And if we can have these students at the time of our graduation feeling bad about a relationship that they’re having to leave, maybe they’ll double clutch before they go.

Even if they got a Google offer that was 60% more money, of course the cost of living is 80% more, but hey. So we’re relying really heavily on the corporation. And they’ve responded really, really well, really, really well.

David Umulis:

That’s absolutely the case. I’ve had so many students when I was head of Biomedical Engineering do internships. Their percentage of retention for their full-time jobs, once they did that, was very high. And so they can see themselves on a path for success, for professional development, and they have a head start by doing this early. But then they have some students that will see the other opportunities and go, but they’ll go knowing what’s in Indianapolis and either come back or find ways to partner with whatever company they’re with, wherever they’re at in the U.S. This will make return dividends in ways that we can’t even imagine right now.

Dan Hasler:

I tell people in my storytelling that Coach Painter isn’t waiting until senior year of high school to recruit his players. Coach Painter is identifying them when they’re freshmen and sophomores and courting them all through that four years. And for the top, top students, if you want to keep the students that are qualified for anything in the world here, it’s going to be a courtship that does it not one date senior year.

Kate Young:

And keeping that talent here.

David Umulis:

Yeah.

Dan Hasler:

It’s also a cycle, right? When companies look to Indianapolis, when I was Secretary of Commerce, the first part of a conversation was, “Okay, show me your talent pipeline.” So we go through it all and… So, “Okay, show me the sites you’ve got. Let’s look at the tax burden. What do utilities cost? Show me the supply chain in and out of Indianapolis.” And then, the last question was, “Okay, let’s look at that talent pipeline again.” If you couldn’t convince them that they could source the talent here, they weren’t coming. It’s kind of a chicken and egg, it’s a cycle. They have to believe it’s here and the students have to believe it’s here and coming as well.

David Umulis:

So we’re bringing that here. And you see it play out in the companies that choose West Lafayette as well. That’s critically important. Tech Point, I believe it was and over the next decade, we need like 46,000 new high-tech jobs to meet the demand of companies that are here and the growth. So I’m also excited to see the new technologies that come out of research.

Kate Young:

Absolutely.

David Umulis:

The new-

Julia:

Here’s your calamari.

David Umulis:

Oh, fun.

Julia:

A little room for us.

Dan Hasler:

Wait, is that supposed to go right here?

David Umulis:

Oh, I like it on this one.

Dan Hasler:

I think she’s going to eat lunch.

Julia:

And then, that sauce is our sweet chili sauce with it. And then, your shrimp cocktail.

David Umulis:

Oh, beautiful.

Dan Hasler:

Just you can have my cracker.

Julia:

I do have some features today as well, if you want to hear those.

Dan Hasler:

Sure.

David Umulis:

Yeah, sounds good.

Kate Young:

Sure, awesome.

Julia:

Right now for our soup, we have a roasted tomato basil, or we have our French onion as always. And then, we have a lunch pizza special. It’s a truffle duck cell pizza. It’s going to have that truffle cream mushroom sauce, and then, button mushrooms. And then, we also have a fish feature. This one’s really good. It’s going to be a halibut cheek.

Dan Hasler:

Oh, let’s get that.

Julia:

It’s going to be right here for you. That’s a six ounce halibut cheek with-

Dan Hasler:

That’s going to be expensive.

Julia:

… berry salsa. The berry salsa includes strawberries, blueberries, and then, jalapeno sauce. And then, it comes with a side of roasted asparagus.

Dan Hasler:

Are you buying or am I?

Kate Young:

I’m buying.

Dan Hasler:

Oh.

David Umulis:

Oh, halibut cheeks, halibut cheeks, halibut cheeks.

Dan Hasler:

Miss, I’m getting…

Julia:

If you want steak, I do have a Spinalis feature. So it’s going to be that cab cut of your ribeye.

David Umulis:

Or I could get three halibut cheeks.

Kate Young:

Oh, yeah.

Julia:

Take two to go, sounds like a good idea to me. I’ll let us you eat appetizers, and then, decide where we’re going from there.

Dan Hasler:

Thank you.

Julia:

All right-

Kate Young:

Wonderful.

David Umulis:

… that sounds great. Thank you.

Julia:

You’re welcome.

Kate Young:

Thank you.

Julia:

Enjoy.

Dan Hasler:

What were we talking about?

Kate Young:

The talent pipeline.

Dan Hasler:

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Important.

Kate Young:

Very important. To sum it all up, important.

David Umulis:

All right. There’s plenty of these to go around.

Kate Young:

What’s your strategy? You really leave the sauce on, you don’t wipe it off.

David Umulis:

I think the sauce adds the pop that makes you remember-

Kate Young:

Why it’s world-famous?

David Umulis:

… Why it’s world-famous. You can get it in the grocery stores.

Kate Young:

Yes. I can see that.

David Umulis:

And what, that they bottle that, yeah. Yeah. But there there’s no substitute for the real thing right here, right now.

Kate Young:

Okay.

Dan Hasler:

If it gets on my chin, you’ll wipe it off, right? I mean would-

Kate Young:

I’ll tell you. I’ll give you a heads-up.

Dan Hasler:

Thank you. Let me know when you want to try.

Kate Young:

Okay. Yeah. We all have to try it at the same time.

David Umulis:

Oh, you going to do one now? Or are you going to hold off?

Dan Hasler:

Okay. My wife has finally trained me that you never allow something to stay on a woman’s face by being polite and not saying anything about it. Is that true?

Kate Young:

Yeah.

Dan Hasler:

You always want to forget it.

Kate Young:

It’s like there’s some phrase about if you’re really good friend you’ll tell the person, but if you’re just acquaintances, you feel embarrassed about it, you know what I mean?

David Umulis:

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Dan Hasler:

Yeah, yeah, I commit.

Kate Young:

But we’ll tell each other, right?

David Umulis:

Okay, yeah, yeah. Tell each other.

Dan Hasler:

Here we go.

Okay. That’s warm. This one, too.

Kate Young:

It hits you after.

David Umulis:

Oh, yeah. That hits the spot. This is available in the Indianapolis airport, too.

Kate Young:

Yes.

David Umulis:

At the Harry & Izzy’s in the airport.

Kate Young:

Yes, is that part of what’s attractive too, is having… I know we just did a podcast episode about the commercial flights coming back to West Lafayette, but having that a big international airport in India, is that attractive to potential students, I imagine?

Dan Hasler:

Well, it’s easy too. I mean, we’ve all been in the airport. I’m always amazed. Well, it gets like top awards every year for the last 20 years of being one of the best airports in the country. But the amazing thing is you can be there in a holiday and the place is packed and it feels calm and quiet. Have you ever notice that?

David Umulis:

Yeah. It’s super easy getting in and out of.

Kate Young:

It’s clean.

David Umulis:

There’s another place, there’s in the B terminal, they have a Shapiro’s, which is another famous Indianapolis place. The airport actually is a critical importance for a local industry that’s really taken off in Indianapolis, in the Radiopharmaceutical.

Dan Hasler:

Oh, yeah.

David Umulis:

Radiopharmaceuticals. We’re developing a program, a master’s program in certificates, in radiopharmaceuticals that it’s going to go live this fall. And Indianapolis is becoming a national center point for this because of the ease of access of FedEx and other ways to get these materials out. Their therapeutic agents for imaging, but also for treating cancer. And they need to get from where they’re made to a patient in a day-

Dan Hasler:

They have a half life of like…

David Umulis:

Their half life is super fast. And this is why this has grown to be a center point for that as well as the other pharmaceutical industries and infrastructure and talent to support that. But-

Dan Hasler:

It is kind of funny when we always think of ourselves as kind of the hub from a logistics standpoint, but when you find those spots where logistics and high technology need each other, it’s an interesting little niche for Indianapolis.

Kate Young:

This is fantastic. I haven’t had this before.

Dan Hasler:

I know. Well, just hang around.

Kate Young:

So when it comes to Purdue’s reputation for research and innovation, how will that expand?

Dan Hasler:

Well, Purdue has always been all about research, all about intellectual property, and all about connecting with industry to make sure that those innovations actually solve a problem and do good work. That’s always been what West Lafayette’s about, and we were talking about that a little earlier. Those faculty are going to find their way to Indianapolis and back and forth. So you’re going to see a lot of that mass of research show up the Indianapolis campus or around the Indianapolis campus, either at 16 Tech, or at the Elenco site, et cetera. That’s the relationship that brings these companies in. They want to do research with faculty to solve their problems. And they realize that in the midst of that, they’re going to be a lot more efficient if they live next to us. And that’s why they move in Discovery Park. It’s why they move in the aerospace district. It’s why they’ll move in Indianapolis to cozy up to the faculty and students.

David Umulis:

And there’s a lot of exciting research going on and a lot of eagerness from faculty in West Lafayette to take advantage of what kind of research makes the most sense in Indianapolis. We’re talking about research and sports technology and engineering, we’re talking about research in advanced pharmaceuticals, pharmaceutical manufacturing, engineering. We have a lot of research going on right now in transportation, safety, autonomous vehicles in Indianapolis out of the gate. Biomedical engineering has a big connection point with all the hospitals and local area, clinics and things to work with clinic data and cook medical, other roast diagnostics. A lot of companies in that sphere are here eager to do more research with us and turn that on and to see what kind of technologies can come of it to improve the health of Hoosiers, to help just people in the community in Indianapolis, but across the state. A lot of research in AI, cyber security, a big focus of the future direction here.

Dan Hasler:

Pharmaceuticals, tons of pharmaceuticals.

David Umulis:

And we just launched an audiology clinic, a research clinic in 16 Tech here in Indianapolis, part of the Purdue and Indianapolis work. So that’s another area of just reinforcement that we can do-

Dan Hasler:

Thank you.

David Umulis:

… by the scale of what we have here. So that audiology clinic makes the most sense here because the researchers need a lot of data from the population to do their research project. Those with hearing loss, those without. This just brings that scale and brings new opportunities for research that we haven’t had easily accessible before.

Dan Hasler:

You know what would be a fun thing to do sometime if you have a couple hours late at night, is to go to the OTC website, the Office of Technology Commercialization, and look at all the patents that are available for licensing. Half of them, I don’t understand, I can’t even read write. It is hard to understand, but there’s always a little synopsis of what the technology is and what’s it for. Literally, it’s hard to imagine a space or a category that there is not Purdue intellectual property on, but you kind of get a feel for, and this is what they use as their shop, their marketplace, but you get a feel for all the areas that are representing Purdue research because there’s been IP created. It’s just phenomenal to watch. It’s literally thousands and thousands of patents and technologies available.

Kate Young:

So what should residents of Indy and Boilermakers living in Indy be excited about when you’re bringing Purdue in full force to Downtown Indianapolis?

Dan Hasler:

I think it’s going to add to the vibrancy, right? I mean, downtown areas and cities need buzz. And not just Purdue, but IU. I think both have aspirations to not only grow the population and make it more dense, but also make it much more residential. So people are here 24/7 not driving in and driving home. And it’s important… It’s funny. I always believe people basically behave to the universal gas law.

Julia:

What do we think about our apps?

David Umulis:

Fantastic.

Kate Young:

Delicious.

Julia:

Awesome.

Kate Young:

Yes.

Julia:

And are we ready to order as well?

Dan Hasler:

I’m ready if you’re ready. You ready?

Kate Young:

I’m ready. Am I going first?

Julia:

Yes. What are we having?

Kate Young:

Okay. Can I do the six ounce filet, please.

Julia:

What temperature today?

Kate Young:

Don’t laugh at me. I like medium well, please.

Julia:

And then, for your side?

Kate Young:

I will do mashed potatoes.

Julia:

Awesome.

Kate Young:

Thank you.

Julia:

You’re welcome.

Dan Hasler:

Would you like a shoe with that?

Kate Young:

Should I switch to medium and try-

Dan Hasler:

No, no, I’m just teasing.

David Umulis:

Sure is, yeah.

Dan Hasler:

I’m just teasing you. Scallops, please.

Julia:

Yeah.

David Umulis:

Halibut cheek, please.

Julia:

Awesome.

Kate Young:

Oh, switching it up.

David Umulis:

I know. I’ve got to try it.

Dan Hasler:

Like I said, it’s not something you’re going to get at home.

David Umulis:

No.

Julia:

I’ll take those menus.

Kate Young:

Very true.

David Umulis:

I’m excited.

Julia:

Thank you.

Kate Young:

Thank you.

Dan Hasler:

You’re welcome. Don’t worry about it.

David Umulis:

Sometimes innovation extends to the restaurant choice and the specific items. You jump out a little bit.

Dan Hasler:

These are your happy place. You take-

David Umulis:

It’s, it’s… Okay. All right.

Kate Young:

Okay. So we were talking about how people… I live in Indy, I’m a Boilermaker. What will I see and what do you think-

Dan Hasler:

So-

Kate Young:

Or… Go ahead.

Dan Hasler:

Yeah, so vibrancy and connection, and I think that’s important. I always tell people I was talking about the universal gas law, right? PV = nRT, you know that, right?

David Umulis:

Oh, yeah.

Dan Hasler:

Okay. So basically when you compress a gas, what happens? The molecules collide and it makes heat and sometimes light. When you release the pressure, it stops colliding and makes less heat and less light. People are the same way. When you put them in a small space and they collide, they come up with ideas, they spark. We in Indiana have the blessing of lots of space. So the problem I’ve always thought we had is, it’s easy for us to spread out and when we spread out, we stop colliding. We stop accidentally seeing and finding ways to communicate and collide. When you put people in a tight place, which is what you get on campuses, there’s just a lot more collaboration, a lot more collision, a lot more light, a lot more heat, a lot more invention. And I think you’ll see some of that happen. That same kind of phenomenon happen in Downtown Indianapolis.

David Umulis:

That’s our goal. We want to focus on density, making it a high-dense campus, so it has that urban feel. Doesn’t feel like a Midwest campus transplanted into a city? But it feels like it’s a part of the city.

Kate Young:

Sure.

David Umulis:

But also alumni and friends will see a lot more black and gold. They should be seeing it right now around on signs, and on buses, and on bus stops, and on banners, and light poles. And we soon we’ll have permanent installations on campus. We will be here in a way that you have not seen before. And so that should be really encouraging to our alumni and we want them to ask questions, to come to campus, to give back.

Dan Hasler:

I’m excited.

David Umulis:

That’s going to be a big deal.

Dan Hasler:

I’m excited for the first building. It’s going to go tall. You’re going to be able to see it for good ways, and it’s going to have a big flying P on it.

Kate Young:

Tell us more about what we can expect to see with the campus and the buildings.

Dan Hasler:

So we have a team that Dave and I work with on the master plan right now, we’re about halfway through it. We’re being very careful to make sure we’re getting lots of input from the community. We’re participating with the Indiana Avenue Recertification Plan, which also is a master plan for not just our campus, but for the whole neighborhood so that we fit in both ways. That’ll be done in the next probably five to six months, hopefully good Lord Willem’s Creek don’t rise. We’ll be breaking ground on our first building sometime late in the wintertime, late fall, spring sometime. That will be a multi-use student activity, student success building. We want it to be the beating heart of the campus, the place where those collisions happen. And as I mentioned before, it’s going to go high. It’ll have a series of dorms in it.

Kate Young:

Oh, cool. Okay.

Dan Hasler:

So when you’re coming to campus, if you want to connect, if you want to get oriented, that’s the first place you’re going to go.

Kate Young:

And then, where will you all work out of?

David Umulis:

We’ll be part of that overall 28 acres just to the west of Downtown is where the 28 acres will be. We also have a spot over on Mass Ave called High Alpha in the Bottleworks District-

Kate Young:

We just want to buy it.

David Umulis:

Fantastic place and a lot of opportunities there. And growth for business entrepreneurship activities. It’s right next to the garage, right next to the Bottleworks Hotel, which are fantastic places. When departments and colleges and Purdue taking advantage of those spaces regularly and increasing that use as well. The 16 Tech is right adjacent to the campus. It’s a tech innovation park where startup companies are headed and things. And then, Motorsports Engineering program has a lot of connections with Speedway. So we have a beating heart just to the west of campus, but we really want to see ourselves just webbed into the city and companies and other ways that we are just present.

Dan Hasler:

Marbled in.

David Umulis:

Marbled in.

Dan Hasler:

Just like your steak’s going to be.

David Umulis:

Prime steak.

Dan Hasler:

Marbled in. Wagyu.

Kate Young:

What can Boilermakers expect this fall for this first semester? What would you tell any students or maybe parents of students, why should people be excited?

David Umulis:

The first year programs award-winning faculty in psychology, liberal arts, engineering, computer science in-person on campus. For instance, there’s programs in West Lafayette for first year engineering. Two of the honors options are the only options in Indianapolis. So this means EPICS, which is engineering projects and community service or VIP, vertically integrated projects. These are projects that students will be working on, right as first year students that have real world impact, either with companies or with community partners or with schools to learn the principles of engineering as they prepare and do other things like get programming courses and things for their Mechanical Engineering or Computer Science courses.

And so we’re really de-risking, getting very gainful employment. I’m a first generation college graduate. I went to college because I wanted to do something better with my life and get a good job. And it really did put me on that track, but it also helped my family go on that track too. Because I wrote my sister’s application at college and things like that. So it’s transformative. This is a place where we’re going to see students transformed and get these high-paying jobs, become leaders and raise up whole families because of it. That’s what parents could look forward to.

Dan Hasler:

I think the other thing that’s going to be exciting, we extended ourselves in a pretty good way by master leasing a lot of student apartments in the Lux building not too far from the campus. And we did that and went at risk to do it to make sure that these students, especially the freshmen, had a very tight community and could live together with residents, resident assistants, and have programming there. Because we want, especially this first class of freshmen to feel like they’re in a really tight special community that brings friendships, collaborations, security for the parents, all those things.

David Umulis:

And we have academic programs in residence. We have learning communities. Every student will be a part of a learning community living in these residence halls. So this is things like women in engineering programs, computer science programs. There is a motorsports, a new motorsports learning community. So they can do activities together where they live and that reinforce what they’re doing in their academic discipline. And this reinforcement of the activities in where they’re living, where they’re working and where they’re studying is really important as part of their journey in identity formation and knowing that they’re becoming an engineer or a computer science or graduate in those fields. It’s a full wraparound approach.

Dan Hasler:

But they’re also going to be a part of the ongoing design back to that learning community and being willing to innovate and take risks. We’re looking to them to be pretty vocal and saying, “Hey, what do you want more of, less of, none of? And we’ll morph quickly to that. So they’ll be benefiting the classes that come after and designing the life that they want.

David Umulis:

And the, mentioned this earlier, but with student life and athletics, there will be transportation, there will be access to tickets, the same level of access and expectations for them to be able to get to those experiences in West Lafayette. Football, and basketball, women’s basketball, and volleyball, and baseball, and everything else.

Kate Young:

They can do a Purdue game on a Saturday in West Lafayette, and then, a Colts game on a Sunday.

David Umulis:

Yeah, easily. You could. Yes.

Kate Young:

That’s exciting. So what are you both most excited to see as the campus grows and expands? We are just talking about the different buildings and everything.

Dan Hasler:

I’m excited for the feeling of presence in the branding. We’ve all been anxious. I mean, we don’t get the keys to the car until July one. That’s when the actual separation takes place. And so we’ve had to hold back a little bit on decorating it like home, right? Making it look Boilermaker. I’m going to be really excited when you go down west and Michigan and say, “Oh my gosh, I’m at Purdue,” right? And that’ll happen pretty quickly in the fall.

David Umulis:

I’m excited to see our incoming students and I’m excited to see the impact that they are going to start having in the community and in the companies in the region. I’m excited to see graduates write back and tell us about how their experience made them successful in their next phase. That’s really what I’m looking forward to.

Kate Young:

Yes.

Dan Hasler:

You want some calamari before she takes it? I know you do.

Kate Young:

No, no, no.

David Umulis:

I’m okay. Thank you. I’m really excited and curious to see just how things we haven’t thought of yet for West Lafayette students will take advantage of some of this extra infrastructure. I mean, there’s going to be career fairs and things in Indianapolis that have more Indianapolis companies then go to Roundtable. West Lafayette students are going to be joining us and welcome to do this.

Dan Hasler:

And contribute to this. So it’s really going to be a lot of black and gold walking around and becoming more known.

David Umulis:

I think there’s a lot of opportunity for IU with our growing presence here as well. Collaborations occur when you have the right experts in the room together. We have a long history of finding those across institutions.

Dan Hasler:

I think Michigan Street’s going to end up being really cool. I have this imagination. I’m standing on West Street, looking west down Michigan, and it won’t happen immediately, but on one side it’s basically going to be IU on the south side of Michigan, be IU on the north side of Michigan BPU Purdue University. So imagine if you’re coming into town and you are standing on that corner and seeing those institutions right next to each other. It’s like looking down Main street of Disney, right? And I think that’s going to be really powerful for Central Indiana.

Kate Young:

Absolutely. And all the house divided people can go take a picture.

David Umulis:

Yes. They put lights on their car, take a picture right down that street.

Kate Young:

So I know both of you have Purdue experiences. Why are you both proud to be Boilermakers?

Dan Hasler:

I’ll tell you, one of the jobs I had at Purdue was as the president of the research foundation, one of the things that research foundation did was manage all the intellectual property that came out of the university, and then, got that into corporate hands or startups. So on an average year, there was about 520 disclosures of intellectual property. Actually, there were more disclosures. There were about 500 filings of patents every year. Also, we would license about 240 of those patents to companies and startups. And I would have companies come in and I’d have a conversation with them when I said, I come to Purdue in the morning, talk to a faculty member. And I think I’m watching a science fiction movie in the morning. And by the afternoon, one of these faculty members has turned it into a documentary. And I would say, “Can you really do that?”

He said, “Oh yeah. At least on paper, I can do it.” So the amount of creativity, the amount of inventiveness, and not just inventiveness for its own sake, but inventiveness that has a need and a purpose is absolutely magical. It’s one thing to admit something and you don’t know what it’s for, but when you have hundreds, thousands of faculty who are creating because they’re trying to solve a problem, not because they’re trying to write a paper, it’s magic. It is magic. And that science fiction movie gets turned into a documentary and I get the willies every time I think about it.

David Umulis:

To me, Boilermakers or symbolic of a group… Go back to what a Boilermaker is. What is a Boilermaker? They used to work on these giant steam vessels that would contain energy and high pressure that would be used to spin turbines, either move a locomotive or make energy, but no boilermaker ever built one of those by themselves. That’s why there’s boilermakers, plural, because we always trying to tackle problems and do things that are so big. You can’t do it by yourself, but we have a structure that makes such good teams. We are effectively functioning like a team of Boilermakers to do those big things. And I’m so proud of the teams that are involved in this project and operation.

Dan Hasler:

Teaming is so huge. It’s kind of an Indiana trait anyway, but it’s hyper at Purdue. We talk all the time about the fact that we’ve got this extended team of people that are helping us get this stood up. And there are two attributes. One is none of them will let someone else make a mistake. If they see a ball dropping, whether it’s their ball or not, they grab for it. Okay, that’s special. The other thing that’s special is bad news travels faster than good news. I don’t need sunshine all day. I need to know what’s breaking, what’s squeaking, what might break, what’s wobbling before it does break. And this team generally knows and feels secure enough and safe enough and embedded enough to say, “Dan, David, problem, let’s work on this. Let’s work on this.” And those two attributes for a corporation or a university are the two most important attributes to a high performing team, and I’m just really proud to be a part of it.

David Umulis:

Yeah, absolutely. This is reiterating that. It goes down to the students too, the projects, the curriculum, the Data Mine, vertically integrated projects. These are teams of 4, 6, 12 students. We take this mentality to the classroom and enriching their experience from our own experiences. It’s truly something to be a part of this and to see it all come together and work and the teams function at that high level. That makes me so happy to be a Boilermaker.

Kate Young:

So the next giant leap for Purdue and Indianapolis is coming up July 1st. After that exciting occasion. What are each of your next giant leaps? It can be personal or professional.

David Umulis:

I guess we’re building that company, right?

Dan Hasler:

We are. We’re going to build that.

Kate Young:

We’re hearing about that first thing.

Dan Hasler:

He’s going to file a patent. We’re going to be off… Actually something in wound care, I think.

David Umulis:

Yeah.

Dan Hasler:

Especially is in wound care.

David Umulis:

Yeah, that’s where we’re at. We have an NSF institute that has a lot of… Again, this team mentality, this Boilermaker mentality, it would address this, it’s going on. But next giant leap, I think might be into some cold water to enjoy a quick dip, and then, some fishing or something, and then, come back to it. I’m in it to win it, and I’m going to be eager to get back focused on this for the next years.

Dan Hasler:

Well, so on the professional side, I’m already kind of ahead of that day thinking about the corporations that we can have significant strategic partnership with and where they might land near us, either 16 tech or out at the Elenco site. I’m going to be spending most of my time talking to companies about why they need to be next to us. On the personal side, I need to get back to the farm because weeds are growing in my garden.

Kate Young:

Got to get back to growing vegetables.

Dan Hasler:

I know it. I know it. And you got to pull weeds every day or they get ahead of you. And right now I have a weed farm.

Kate Young:

Well, we can’t thank you enough for joining us and sharing a meal with us.

David Umulis:

Thank you for the meal. This is great.

Kate Young:

Absolutely. Absolutely. Those are looking good. I think I have to get that next time.

Dan Hasler:

Well, you can have one.

Kate Young:

No, I know you don’t want some of my steak.

Dan Hasler:

No, I would’ve 10 minutes ago. Holy moly.

Kate Young:

Is it delicious?

Dan Hasler:

It’s incredible.

Kate Young:

How’s everything tasting? You like the halibut cheeks?

David Umulis:

It’s fantastic.

Kate Young:

Awesome.

David Umulis:

Yeah, thank you.

Dan Hasler:

Really good. Thank you.

Kate Young:

No problem. Thank you.

David Umulis:

Have it down. Boil her up.

Dan Hasler:

Let it go, Butch.

Kate Young:

All right, Sundance, we got this.

David Umulis:

Thanks for having us.

Kate Young:

Oh my gosh.

David Umulis:

This is great.

Kate Young:

We can’t thank Dan and David enough for their time and a very special thank you to our friends at Huse Culinary for hosting us at Harry & Izzy’s in Downtown Indy. And to our waitress Julia. Thanks for the wonderful hospitality. If you’d like to learn more about Purdue University in Indianapolis, please head over to purdue.edu/indy. And if you want to watch how Dan, David, and I handled the world-famous St. Elmo Shrimp Cocktail, head over to our YouTube page, youTube.com/@thisispurdue. Be sure to check out that tab labeled shorts. If you want to catch our faces when that first bite of fiery horseradish packed cocktail sauce hits us. And of course, be sure to follow This Is Purdue on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. This Is Purdue is hosted and written by me, Kate Young.

Our podcast videography for this episode was led by Ted Schellenberger, John Garcia, Thad Boone, and Zach Mogensen. Our social media marketing is led by Maria Welch. Our podcast distribution strategy is led by Teresa Walker and Carly Eastman. Our podcast design is led by Caitlin Freeville. Our podcast photography is led by John Underwood. Our podcast team project manager is Rain Gu. Our podcast, YouTube Promotions is managed by Kristen Bowman. Additional Writing Assistance is led by Sophie Ritz. And additional assistance for this special episode was led by Delaney Young. Thanks for listening to This Is Purdue. For more information on this episode, visit our website at purdue.edu/podcast. There you can head over to your favorite podcast app to subscribe and leave us a review. And as always, Boiler up.