assumptions about how research centers are funded, and enabled me to think outside that box in ways that may be more appropriate, more market- driven,” she said. While Miller is relatively new in her association with WDI, Ravi Anupindi, a WDI research fellow and Ross professor, has collaborated with the Institute for more than a decade. His initial work with base-of- the-pyramid (BoP) research included advising student MBA teams and project work on value chains. The work formed the basis of two publications he co-wrote with WDI Senior Research Fellow Ted London. Anupindi said working with the Institute helped him expand his network of key stakeholders in the BoP space – donors, implementing partners and in-country agencies and beneficiaries — and learn from these interactions. Anupindi was also a faculty consultant on a WDI project at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa to build capacity within its business school. Anupindi assisted in the design and launch of a new graduate degree program in supply chain management, among other efforts there. “This engagement enabled me to better design and deliver appropriate content for a local audience, based on the Institute’s approach to case study review and experiential learning,” he said. “It is satisfying to think that, through this association, we have influenced future generations of supply chain leaders trained by the university.” Another WDI initiative that Anupindi has participated in involves healthcare, working with the team on projects with academic, field and practice components. Like his efforts with the BoP initiative, his involvement in healthcare projects expanded his stakeholder contacts and deepened his domain expertise. “I consider myself very fortunate to be at a university that has an organization like WDI,” Anupindi said, “which allows me to work on difficult social problems that stretch my boundaries of skills and capabilities and instills a purpose in my work.” Faculty Collaboration “Research and questionnaire design by themselves can be deadly dull. But using those same processes in the interest of alleviating human suffering? That’s pretty important.” 50 William Davidson Institute