theCUBE + NYSE Wired: AI Factories - Data Centers of the Future | James Kellerhouse, Vanderbilt University

James Kellerhouse, Vanderbilt University

In this interview from theCUBE + NYSE Wired: AI Factories – Data Centers of the Future event, Glean co-founder and CEO Arvind Jain joins theCUBE’s John Furrier to unpack what’s really working in enterprise AI today and what comes next. Jain explains why knowledge access remains the first successful AI use case at scale and how Glean’s enterprise search brings AI into everyday work. He details the past year’s lessons with AI agents – from the need for guardrails, security, evaluation and monitoring to democratizing agent building so business owners (not just data scientists) can create production-grade agents. The conversation dives into Glean’s vision of the enterprise brain powered by an enterprise graph, highlighting the importance of deep context, human workflows and behavior to reduce “noise” and drive outcomes. Jain outlines core building blocks – hundreds of enterprise integrations and a growing actions library – that let agents securely read company knowledge and take actions across systems (e.g., CRM updates, HR tasks, calendar checks). He discusses how organizations are standing up AI Centers of Excellence, prioritizing “top 10–20” agents across functions like engineering, support and sales, and why a horizontal AI data platform that unifies structured and unstructured data – accessed conversationally and stitched together via standards like MCP – sets the foundation for AI factory-scale operations. Looking ahead, Jain says Glean’s upgraded assistant is evolving from reactive tool to proactive companion that anticipates tasks and accelerates productivity.

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More from theCUBE + NYSE Wired: AI Factories - Data Centers of the Future

James Kellerhouse

Assistant Vice Chancellor, Strategic Initiatives, Exec. Director

Vanderbilt University

play_circle_outline Vanderbilt University’s growth strategy with multi-campus investments, including New York City.

play_circle_outline Revolutionizing Higher Education: AI's Role in Aligning University Programs with Industry Demands for Student Success and Internships

play_circle_outline Hybrid learning solutions to address flexibility for graduate students while maintaining in-person learning for undergraduates.

play_circle_outline Ensuring ethical use of data and proficiency in AI among students for future careers.

play_circle_outline Focus on affordability and access to ensure diverse student opportunities and success.

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Transcript

James Kellerhouse, Vanderbilt University

James Kellerhouse

Assistant Vice Chancellor, Strategic Initiatives, Exec. Director Vanderbilt University

In this theCUBE + NYSE Wired: AI Factories – Data Centers of the Future interview, James Kellerhouse, assistant vice chancellor and executive director overseeing strategic initiatives at Vanderbilt University, joins theCUBE’s Gemma Allen at the New York Stock Exchange to discuss how AI, data and industry alignment are reshaping higher education. Kellerhouse shares how Vanderbilt’s “Dare to Grow” mindset is driving a multi-campus expansion from its 150-year Nashville home to New York City, West Palm Beach and San Francisco, placing students and faculty at the ... Read more

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What is Vanderbilt University's approach to growth and expansion in the context of higher education? add

What factors influenced the decision to expand Vanderbilt's programs to New York City? add

What is the approach to delivering curriculum in the undergraduate and graduate programs at Vanderbilt regarding hybrid learning? add

What measures are being taken to ensure students have access to resources and proficiency with AI technology? add

What initiatives has Vanderbilt University implemented to improve accessibility and affordability of higher education for families with lower incomes? add

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James Kellerhouse, Vanderbilt University

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Gemma Allen

>> Welcome back to theCUBE, broadcasting live here from the New York Stock Exchange. This is our AI Factories Week. And one area that's under a lot of pressure right now, getting a lot of talk is the impact of AI on education. Joining me today, I have James Kellerhouse, assistant vice chancellor and executive director, overseeing strategic initiatives at Vanderbilt University. Welcome, James.

James Kellerhouse

>> Great. Thanks so much for having us here today, really appreciate it.

Gemma Allen

>> So, education is the backbone to every society, right?

James Kellerhouse

>> Absolutely.

Gemma Allen

>> We're in a place right now where the future feels a little bit ambiguous. No one really can project the road ahead, as hard as we try. What we do know is that we need smart people and we need to build tomorrow's leaders.

James Kellerhouse

>> Absolutely.

Gemma Allen

>> Vanderbilt's a university with a long-time reputation, very strong brand, very strong name. I want to talk a little bit about the tech and the innovation. But first, tell me about the mission. Tell me about the journey you guys have been on and some of the exciting news you have ahead.

James Kellerhouse

>> No, happy to. So, as you mentioned, higher education, it's an evolving market these days. And Vanderbilt University is actually in this growth mode that's really unlike many of the universities today. So, we have just positioned ourselves well from a position of strength in this motto, but we actually, it's more than a motto, it's a mindset that we have is, "Dare to grow." So, during this time, we are looking at multi-campus investment. So, New York City actually being one of our... Actually, our first extension campus outside of Nashville. For us, the future of higher education is about ensuring our students and our faculty, our research and scholarship are all at the nexus of where industry is coming together in incredible sectors like tech, AI, FinTech, arts, media, consulting. Nashville is a phenomenal city, it's where we've been for 150 years, but where we want to be for our students and for our faculty are these other locations. So, you look at West Palm Beach, where investing has really come onto the scene, we're looking at a location there. You look at San Francisco and we look at the arts and AI there as well.

Gemma Allen

>> Wow.

James Kellerhouse

>> Yeah, that's where we're growing. The other thing I'd add is that in this time, we just launched our first college within the university in the last 40 years. It's the College for Connected Computing. And for us, we know that technology and computing is a part of everything. It's really interdisciplinary in nature. So, our students will have that opportunity to have those majors and minors that really bridge across STEM, arts and sciences, computing, data analytics, data science, information technology, the ethical use of data today, which is so important for us.

Gemma Allen

>> I mean, New York is a fantastic city. As somebody who's been here 13 years, it's an expensive city though, and it's like sometimes a chaotic city. But as a university experience it's pretty phenomenal, as I'm sure is Nashville.

James Kellerhouse

>> It is.

Gemma Allen

>> I'm not going to be too New Yorker on you here. But tell me, when you think about alignment and culture and city alignment in particular, is there any specific industry angle for this? Is it you're looking to grow more into the finance space or into... Even though right now, we're bringing Silicon Valley towards you, but I think the world of tech and finance, there's a lot of convergence, but what led the decision?

James Kellerhouse

>> Absolutely. So, outside of Nashville, New York City has actually the home of most of our alumni, 8,000 alumni live in the Metro New York area. Many of them are leaders actually in technology, in investing, banking, consulting, that space. Our students were coming here after graduation as well. They were looking for those internship experiences. So, the program we're launching in New York is all about industry. On the undergraduate level, students will come, they will participate in a capstone or industry internship while they're here in their third or fourth year. And our Masters of Science and Business and tech program is a full-time program with nine of those credits being a capstone with industry alignment as well. So, the idea is to get our students to contribute to the talent pipeline to get our researchers and our faculty also in the innovation ecosystem to be contributing in this way. They've been doing it in Nashville for a long time, and now it's time for Vanderbilt to be actually coming home to New York. I mean, that's where Vanderbilt was from.

Gemma Allen

>> I know, right?

James Kellerhouse

>> Right. So, actually for us, it's a coming home moment.

Gemma Allen

>> The flywheel effect, I guess. It has a strong city alignment.

James Kellerhouse

>> Absolutely.

Gemma Allen

>> Tell me about the expectations of students. When I think back of my college experience, I had floppy disks, right? It was a different world. I'm sure things are changing so rapidly. And my perception is that students expect the same experience that digital-first, digitally-native seamless experience, where they're ordering food on Uber Eats or they're learning, right?

James Kellerhouse

>> Absolutely. Yeah.

Gemma Allen

>> How do you guys think for that and plan for that? How do their expectations drive your strategic planning?

James Kellerhouse

>> Sure. So, tech forward is in everything that we do now in the student experience, it's how we're building out the campus. So, when I think about how it applies to specifically what we're doing here in New York City it's seamlessly of the academic program students. Everything from how they register for classes, apply for financial aid, all that needs to be an extension of what we're doing in Nashville to how they order food. Classrooms today need to have state-of-the-art AV. Students are doing podcasts. Students are broadcasting themselves really around globe. So, they expect that experience as well. And then, of course, on their tablets, on their laptops, smartphones, they all have to move seamlessly in and out of our ecosystem, whether they're in Nashville or they're in New York, or they're going to their internship site. In addition, the proficiency that they need to have to work with big data sets to be able to analyze data quickly, contribute to the research that they're doing, maybe they're in their internship to contribute to the coursework to be effective in the marketplace moving forward is critical. So, making sure that they're graduated with that proficiency, but not just the proficiency, but then the ethical use of data. And I mean, that's where we're at today, right? There's so much at our fingertips. How do we make sure that our students, our graduates, are meaningfully and ethically contributing to and growing in their careers in that way.

Gemma Allen

>> Tell me about the access point. Are your students mostly on campus? Are they doing some remote learning? And how do you plan for that too? In terms? I mean, hopefully we'll never have another 2020, but who knows? I think it was a big learning for everybody, especially for education.

James Kellerhouse

>> Absolutely.

Gemma Allen

>> So, tell me about the way in which students access content, curriculum, communities. Is that becoming more and more online and remote?

James Kellerhouse

>> It is absolutely more and more online. So, you see university libraries really becoming convening spaces. Very few books now, those textbooks that I had, I would say, to bringing their laptops. It's bringing their technology in, it's being able to access the systems, the periodicals, the research that they need to access. Classrooms need to be outfitted for that hybrid learning environment. Even though I will say at Vanderbilt, our undergraduate students, we don't deliver online curriculum in the undergraduate program. We feel very strongly about that classroom experience. That coming together collaboratively in that environment does something for our students to learn and grow from one another, get disparate ideas, and really move through and have a vibrant life after. And our graduate program, though, it's absolutely hybrid. I mean, these students are students. They're working often. They need a little bit more flexibility in the space. And so, all of our spaces need to be outfitted for that. And who knows? God knows we don't have another COVID challenge, but in that environment... Now, it's about broadcasting too, right? It's about creating content.

Gemma Allen

>> Storytelling.

James Kellerhouse

>> Storytelling.

Gemma Allen

>> So powerful.

James Kellerhouse

>> Right? Absolutely.

Gemma Allen

>> Actually, so interesting to hear the students are doing that. I love that though because I love the level of improvisation and self-belief it brings as well, right?

James Kellerhouse

>> Yeah, absolutely.

Gemma Allen

>> Tell me about the challenges. When I think back, again, on my own university experience, one of my biggest fears is that you go to the library to take a piece from a journal and the page would be ripped out, right? Back then, that's how very competitive students would cheat you out of a win. Nowadays, in terms of the online space, it is just so wildly different in such a short space of time. What areas do you really concern you guys? Is it security? Is it accessibility? How do you think about the challenges in this space?

James Kellerhouse

>> Yeah, it's a great question. So, I think that for us, and again, I'll talk about this New York City experience, because really, we're building it now. And so, we see some of those physical space obstacles that we need to overcome in terms of accessibility, let's say. But from a technology standpoint, we want to make sure that our students have full access to all the resources that are available. So, as part, of course, their investment in their tuition, they get access a full complement. The digital stack travels with them from Nashville right to New York City. So, we've removed certainly those obstacles. We will be outfitting these spaces on this campus to make sure that everyone has the advantage to participate at all levels. With that, I will say something that I wouldn't say is concerning for us, but we're addressing it, it's just how students become proficient with AI prompting is really important. The ethical use of AI in their studies, but also, how they'll apply that moving forward and the proficiency that they'll have and the level of engagement that they can bring with it to the workplace is going to be really important for them.

Gemma Allen

>> So, let's talk a little bit about AI, but also, tell me a little bit about the partnership side of this. Because tech is just everywhere. It's everywhere. It's everything. It's like oxygen. It's hard to imagine how to differentiate in any aspects of our lives, especially education, I'm sure. It's also a space that feels convoluted at times. How do you pick partners for Vanderbilt? And what do you look for in way of innovative thinking, et cetera, for the future?

James Kellerhouse

>> Definitely. So, for us, partnership is key. It's strategic and it's deliberate. We take a lot of time to really vet who we want to work with. One, what do they bring to us institutionally? How can we work together? So, there's got to be mission alignment. We, first and foremost, want to provide exceptional opportunities for students. Second, we want to make sure that our faculty and our researchers have access to path breaking, scholarship and research and can contribute to the environment. We also want to make sure that there's integrity in who we work with, that there's brand alignment, that there's brand enhancement for that as well. So, you can imagine in New York City, we're partnering and exploring partnerships with a lot of arts organizations, like the Whitney Museum. And in that partnership, we're looking at technology. What does AI, what implications does that have on art and what we see, what we view, how we experience art in our life? In that partnership, we're looking at internships for students. We're looking at possibly joint hiring of faculty members, and we're looking for those who have a long-established history that we can work with.

Gemma Allen

>> No, for sure. And when you think about technology partners, I'm sure it's very important that you don't just buy for hype, that you buy for function, right? I think that must be a key part of the decision, knowing exactly what it is, what sorts of outputs technology can deliver, especially in a market that feels like it's under cost pressure, for sure. Tell me a little bit about partners you choose in the tech space. I know you guys do a bit of work with Dell.

James Kellerhouse

>> We do, and Dell's been actually a long partner for us in that tech space, whether it's delivering hardware from the beginning to the tech solutions that we're looking for today. They've been a partner not only in delivering that aspect of it, but also, in some of the things we talked about earlier, internships for students, working with our faculty, really informing the work that we're doing to stand up this AI tech lab on our Nashville campus as well.

Gemma Allen

>> Wow. And you mentioned data at the beginning of this industry, right?

James Kellerhouse

>> Yeah.

Gemma Allen

>> It's such a powerful tool if it can be leveraged correctly. And I think across the board, whether you're a large-scale enterprise or a university, if you're on a huge budget or a shoestring budget, it seems to me as though getting value from the data and having clean, integral, usable data, it's certainly a challenge.

James Kellerhouse

>> It's a challenge. Also, as you know, managing that data and securing the data is really important for us as well. And I think you hit on that earlier with cybersecurity being a big aspect of what we're focused on is secure data, but then also how we use data to program our campuses. So, again, one of the examples I'll use is as we think about a smart campus here in New York City, we're confined to space. We only have so many classrooms, so many study spaces, residence hall rooms, how do you use data to see where students are moving around the campus? So, ensuring that we can maximize the use of space, and that's data. That's how you use that data. And so, that's just one example of the several ways that we're going to do that. Another way is we're looking at our partners at New York City EDC, Economic Development Council, to help us maybe bring some of our centers of excellence from Nashville to New York. And one is a transportation mobility and AI lab that uses sensors that could be installed around the city to see how we can move freight and people around New York City more efficiently, become more sustainable. And unlike Nashville, which doesn't have the waterways that New York City has, then you think about how we can do that actually with the blue waterways as well. So, it actually expands the way we're thinking about the use of data as well. So, that's just one of those aspects where we can bring faculty and research and something that we've done extraordinarily well in Tennessee with Tennessee DOT. Our goal is to bring that here to New York.

Gemma Allen

>> And it's so interesting because I had never thought about the aspect of safety and space. From a student perspective, even in terms of their on-premise experience and how you think about capacity. But it's interesting, but also how you think about their learning experience and what it is you're with them on this four or five-year journey, where they're learning a lot about themselves, their preferences, their choices. They're also in a very definitive era of their lives.

James Kellerhouse

>> They are. It's scary.

Gemma Allen

>> I mean, part of me would love to go back. Well, I don't know would I love to back right now, but I definitely had a great time in college. But tell me how do you think about that in terms of really using technology and thinking innovatively about how you make that whole student experience and the lifecycle of learning more effective?

James Kellerhouse

>> Well, you know what's interesting today is that students will, regardless of the institution, move in and out of the education ecosystem their whole lives. And that's what we need to be set up for. And I know you talked about the future and what we're thinking about the future of higher education. And so, you have to think about those systems that they can come into. They're going to come back out, maybe they graduate, they get that four year degree, then they're going to come back in for their graduate degree or an advanced certificate or lifelong learning, or they're doing something on the other end. So, the systems that we have to think about setting up for our students, or we do set up, I should say, for our students, is allowing them to move effortlessly through that system. When you think about bringing multi-campuses on for Vanderbilt, which is where we're going with this, it's the same thing a student needs to be able to touch down in West Palm Beach and know they can access all the same systems that they had in Nashville. And from an efficiency standpoint, think about how we aggregate data, how they register for classes, and we're making sure they're compliant with all of the systems that we have. All of that needs to feel seamless for them. Today, as you know, no one has the capacity to handle like, "What are you talking about?"

Gemma Allen

>> The 15-second attention span?

James Kellerhouse

>> Right. I don't even want to type my name in anymore. It better be cookies enabled, it better pre-populate things for me effortlessly, right?

Gemma Allen

>> And then, do that securely is another-

James Kellerhouse

>> And doing that securely....

Gemma Allen

>> important aspect of this, I'm sure.

James Kellerhouse

>> That's key.

Gemma Allen

>> When you think about education, again, it seems as though there's a lot of speculation, a lot of doubt. I think a lot about my own from my children's university days, and I wonder what will life be like 12, 13 years from now? But it seems as though also when people think about specialties and really honing in on one specific skill set or space, there's a little bit of doubt in the air around how effective that would be as a strategy 10 years from now versus 10 years ago, right?

James Kellerhouse

>> Right.

Gemma Allen

>> How do you think about that?

James Kellerhouse

>> So, I think you bring up a really important point and one that we've tackled from the beginning on affordability of higher education too. So, we actually had this incredible campaign for Vanderbilt. Actually, our Data Grow campaign that raised over $3.2 billion for the university. And a core pillar of that campaign was around access, so that families who are making under a certain income level, they attended the university for free with no student loans.

Gemma Allen

>> Love that.

James Kellerhouse

>> That's almost a third of our students are actually there and they graduate debt-free. But having had opportunities and access that they may not have had otherwise. And then, now we move into the immersion space. We want to make sure that the students when they're there, not only can get through the front door, but then they can experience everything about the university. So, we raise money to ensure that those students can go on that study abroad trip. They can come to New York City to do their semester in New York, they can participate in sports teams. They can do all the things that they want to do as part of that university experience. So, for us, tackling the affordability and access is really critical, addressing the pocketbook issue of higher education.

Gemma Allen

>> 100%.

James Kellerhouse

>> But then, you think about the long-haul. And yes, on the short-term, it's great that you can build a skillset and maybe a singular skillset. And those are things I can do from my laptop, I can take a class, but what we love is that engagement. It's really about being in the classroom. It's participating in that ecosystem that helps you build your networks and really builds life .

Gemma Allen

>> And the softer skills, which are so important.

James Kellerhouse

>> So important.

Gemma Allen

>> Connective tissue of life, right? It's so important.

James Kellerhouse

>> When you think about what we're going to do in New York, specifically around internship, students who take an internship during their undergraduate experience, they actually graduate with higher employability that graduate with a higher starting wage, and they actually graduate also into positions where they're more fulfilled because they know the workplace. So, for us, this is where the market is moving, and we want to contribute subtly to also the workforce pipeline here in New York City, the talent pipeline and this is a great way to do that.

Gemma Allen

>> And tell me, in terms of the road ahead and all of the exciting stuff that's going to happen here in New York for Vanderbilt. On the innovation side as it relates to spend and planning and strategic initiatives, what are you really investing in? Because it seems as though there is, again, a big expectation that institutions can spend for 2030 on budgets that are almost like 2008. So, how do you really differentiate in terms of what you need to truly invest in and where there is room for future gaps, I guess?

James Kellerhouse

>> Yeah, it's a great question, and I wish we could all look into the future and see exactly where we'll be on that. But for us, it is so focused on that student experience. So, what we're delivering today is really about what the workplace is asking for for students, what students themselves are asking for. We see that in the market. They're moving to New York City. They're looking for industry-aligned internships. I'll run into graduates of Vanderbilt 20, 30 years ago, and they'll say, "Oh, I wish I'd had an experience like this. It would've set me apart in such a different way in the workplace. Yes, I've been successful, but what you're doing today is innovative for the students." So, as we think about that moving forward, universities really have to be that bridge between research, innovation, and also, what's going on in workforce, what's going on in industry, and what's going on in the global economy. And I think we can be great translators in that space, and we can be great conveners of bringing folks together. Some of the greatest innovations come out of universities. As we know, medical devices, med-tech, vaccines. It's across the board.

Gemma Allen

>> Some fantastic incubators. We've actually had a lot of interesting folks even in here with us over the last few weeks that have just built phenomenal who work in labs with huge market valuations too. So, you're so right.

James Kellerhouse

>> And stay tuned because we'll be announcing some of those things here in New York city.

Gemma Allen

>> Oh, we're excited

James Kellerhouse

>> We'll do that. And then, in Nashville too, we're actually are working on an innovation neighborhood. We have 40 acres that we're working on this mixed-use incubator spaces, industry, residential spaces, really bringing the whole community together. It's not about being a center, which in my mind, is like an island. It's really about becoming a part of the fabric in Nashville, and it's about becoming part of the fabric here in New York.

Gemma Allen

>> Well, welcome to New York.

James Kellerhouse

>> Appreciate it.

Gemma Allen

>> Look forward to hearing more about it and staying apprised of all these exciting developments for Vanderbilt.

James Kellerhouse

>> Great. Well, good. We look forward to coming back. Thanks so much.

Gemma Allen

>> Thanks for coming on theCUBE. I'm Gemma Allen, here at our studio at the New York Stock Exchange. This is our AI Factories Week. Thanks so much for watching.