ASU's Sally Morton Presents a Framework for Research That Serves Communities
The standard measure of research excellence at most universities is publication count, citation impact, and grant revenue. Arizona State University has spent two decades arguing for a different yardstick: the economic, social, cultural, and health outcomes of the communities the institution serves. Sally C. Morton, executive vice president of ASU Knowledge Enterprise, brought that argument to the American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting, one of the largest cross-disciplinary science gatherings in the world.
Her lecture, titled "From Discovery to Impact: A Framework for Research That Strengthens Communities," laid out the structural principles behind ASU's approach and illustrated them with two case studies - the Phoenix Bioscience Core and Arizona's semiconductor workforce ecosystem.
Use-Inspired Research as a Guiding Principle
The ASU model Morton described is grounded in what the institution calls use-inspired research: scientific inquiry driven not by disciplinary curiosity alone, but by real-world problems identified in collaboration with the communities and industries that need solutions. This is distinct from both pure basic research (curiosity-driven, no applied target) and pure applied research (solving a defined technical problem with existing knowledge). Use-inspired research asks fundamental scientific questions precisely because the answers will have practical value.
ASU's charter commits the university to this orientation explicitly, making research public value a formal institutional obligation rather than an optional supplement to traditional academic activities. Morton's lecture translated that charter language into a replicable framework: start with local opportunities and challenges, co-design solutions across sectors, co-invest with industry and government partners, and measure outcomes in both human and economic terms.
The Phoenix Bioscience Core
The first case study Morton presented was the Phoenix Bioscience Core, a life-sciences district built in downtown Phoenix through collaboration among ASU, the state of Arizona, the City of Phoenix, and private industry partners. The project transformed a historically underinvested urban area into a functioning biomedical research and development hub, creating physical infrastructure - laboratories, clinical research space, startup incubators - that would not have been built by any single partner alone.
The core has attracted pharmaceutical and medical device companies, supported early-stage health technology ventures, and provided clinical research capacity that connects bench-level discoveries to patient populations. Morton used it to illustrate how shared infrastructure investments can simultaneously advance health innovation and regional economic development - and how the two goals reinforce rather than compete with each other when planned together from the outset.
Building Arizona's Semiconductor Ecosystem
The second case study was Arizona's semiconductor workforce development initiative, which became acute when major chip manufacturers announced significant facility expansions in the state. The challenge was that the manufacturing workforce required for advanced semiconductor fabrication - process engineers, technicians, quality specialists - did not exist in Arizona at the needed scale.
ASU responded by building a pipeline that spans K-12 education, community college programs, undergraduate and graduate university training, and industry credential pathways, coordinated with the specific workforce needs of arriving manufacturers. The university also established advanced prototyping facilities and public-private research centers that give manufacturers access to research expertise while giving students access to industry-relevant equipment and problems.
Morton framed this as a model for rapid scaling: rather than waiting for organic workforce development over decades, the university worked directly with industry partners to define the skills gap and then built curriculum and infrastructure specifically to close it, within a timeframe relevant to companies making capital investment decisions. The semiconductor initiative illustrates how research universities can function as active economic development agents when they structure partnerships with clear shared investment and defined outcome metrics.
A Replicable Framework
The lecture synthesized these examples into what Morton presented as a transferable structure for other institutions. The framework rests on three phases: identifying local and regional needs through genuine community engagement rather than top-down institution-led problem definition; co-designing solutions with partners who contribute resources, data access, and real-world constraints; and co-investing in shared infrastructure so that no single partner bears the full cost or risk.
Measuring success requires metrics beyond traditional academic outputs. Morton's framework tracks workforce placement numbers, startup formation rates, patient outcomes in clinical research, and regional economic indicators alongside publication and grant metrics. This dual accounting makes the public value of research visible in terms that community partners, policymakers, and industry can evaluate alongside academic peers.
The lecture arrived at a moment when questions about the role and accountability of research universities are prominent in public and policy debate. Morton's presentation offered a model in which those questions are answered not defensively, but by restructuring the research enterprise itself around demonstrable community return - a position that requires institutional commitment well before any specific project is funded.