  We demonstrate in a simple model the surprising result that turning on an
on-site Coulomb interaction U in a doped band insulator leads to the formation
of a half-metallic state. In the undoped system, we show that increasing U
leads to a first order transition between a paramagnetic, band insulator and an
antiferomagnetic Mott insulator at a finite value U_{AF}. Upon doping, the
system exhibits half metallic ferrimagnetism over a wide range of doping and
interaction strengths on either side of U_{AF}. Our results, based on dynamical
mean field theory, suggest a novel route to half-metallic behavior and provide
motivation for experiments on new materials for spintronics.
