TSN: What needs to happen in Michigan to foster a good environment for students to graduate and enter the workforce?
DS: In this economy, we need to out-educate and out-innovate and continue to win, and that means supporting our universities, creating more opportunities not only to go to college or go back to school, but be part of very important research efforts, like (MSU’s Facility for Rare Isotope Beams). We’ve really got to be focused on the future in innovation — energy innovation, manufacturing innovation.

TSN: How can Michigan stop the “brain drain” of college-educated young people leaving the state?
DS: There are exciting opportunities to stay here (in Michigan), and that’s why I’m focused on a new clean energy economy. We are the place of new ideas. … New ideas are coming from the state, and whether it’s agriculture research and opportunities to invest in the future or new energy technology or medicine or business opportunities, the big thing is making sure there’s an opportunity here for people who will stay here.

TSN: Amid the recent talk of student loans and college affordability, how is financial aid being addressed in Congress?
DS: It’s something that’s been a priority of the president and a priority for me. We’ve cut student loan interest rates in half, provided a billion dollars more a year in Pell Grants — there are 300,000 students on Pell Grants in Michigan. What I think about (after) growing up in Clare and coming down to Michigan State, when I was in high school, my dad was very ill, and financially we were in very difficult circumstances. If it wasn’t for tuition scholarships at Michigan State, I wouldn’t have been able to go. … I think this needs to be a top priority if we’re going to compete in the global economy.

TSN: There’s a lot of talk of Michigan’s comeback. Where are we in that process, and when will Michigan be back on track again?
DS: We are definitely coming back. It’s been slower than I like, but I think we’re on the edge of a real economic surge if we stay focused on investments to innovations, focused on industries of the future and focused on education. I think for Michigan, four years ago, before President Obama, we had the highest unemployment rate in the country at 15.7 percent. Now we have dropped farther than any other state, but it’s still too high.