On April 21, 2023, Bala Natarajan shared his perspective of what gave rise to ARISE, a major initiative in Kansas based on funding from the National Science Foundation Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR; award number OIA-2148878) & matching support from the State of Kansas through the Kansas Board of Regents. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.