With all eyes and headlights centered on the Detroit Auto Show this week, Michigan State University President Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D., sat down with former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg for a hearth chat about the future of electrical car, or EV, analysis, authorities partnerships and college analysis throughout Media and Industry days.
The dialog, which came about at midday on Jan. 14, was half of the present’s Mobility Global Forum and was held on the important stage surrounded by the newest automotive fashions in addition to a sneak peek of the automobiles of the future.
“We sit in the center of the global mobility transition,” stated Guskiewicz, “And right now, that transition feels both urgent yet unstable — from EVs, batteries and autonomous systems, there’s intense global competition.”
Guskiewicz requested Buttigieg what must occur for the U.S. to carry and strengthen our place and management in the superior mobility analysis and improvement sector.
“We are living in the most transformational moment for transportation since the combustion engine was developed,” stated Buttigieg. “The question is, what are we going to do in that moment, and who is going to lead it?”
Buttigieg defined the concept of a three-part handshake connecting trade, academia and authorities the place all three of these areas must work collectively and help one another from the evolution of expertise to creating new insurance policies.
“People talk about whether innovation will come from government or whether it will come from industry and, in reality, industry is so good at taking technologies, developing them and bringing them to market,” stated Buttigieg. “What has worked so well for America is to have this relationship where universities develop ideas, often with federal support, and they develop it to the point that industry can pick it up and run them.”
The dialog between Guskiewicz and Buttigieg additionally centered on methods the authorities can help college analysis past funding.
“When you have a technology that is ultimately more advanced, policymakers cannot just put the toothpaste back into the tube,” stated Buttigieg. “I see the innovation, the determination, the dedication of us, automakers and their teams, their workers and their leaders and, they deserve policymakers who have their back.”
Guskiewicz expanded on this as he spoke about convergence science and the function of increased training.
“It’s going to work best when we bring together engineers, economists, planners, computer scientists and policymakers working together,” stated Guskiewicz. “Over 1.2 million jobs in our state are tied to the automotive sector, and business leaders like Bill Ford, the executive chair of Ford Motor Company, are counting on America’s leading research universities like MSU to help solve the problem and to help retool the current workforce, while also preparing the younger and next generation.”
Buttigieg additionally highlighted the significance of increased training and challenged researchers to proceed to do analysis that makes a distinction in individuals’s each day lives.
“The university is probably the most consequential invention of the human species because it makes so many other things possible,” stated Buttigieg. “The role of higher education is not just to produce educated workers, but to produce prepared citizens. But academia also has a responsibility to show itself to be interested in things that are relevant to people.”
As Guskiewicz needs to organize MSU college students to be the subsequent era of staff for jobs that don’t even exist but, he requested Buttigieg about the future of workforce improvement.
“The most important thing is to invest in forms and ways of knowledge that are flexible and adaptable,” stated Buttigieg. “If we keep trying to chase one narrow skill set or one industry at a time, we may miss an opportunity to equip workers as well as citizens to be ready for whatever changes are going to come when they do have to make a big career change.”
During his go to to the Detroit Auto Show, Guskiewicz additionally walked the showroom ground, take a look at drove new 2026 automotive fashions and stopped by to go to college students from MSU’s College of Engineering Baja racing group who have been presenting as half of the Society of Automotive Engineers’ sales space.
The dialog was lined by USA Today via the Detroit Free Press and Yahoo Autos.