Energy-Water-Compute Nexus Seminar Series

Data Centers as Systems: An Introduction

Thursday, October 1, 2026
12:00–1:30 p.m.

Discovery Partners Institute (DPI)
200 S. Wacker Drive, 20th Floor, Chicago, IL
Rm: CR 2005

Hybrid — In person + virtual

Session Description | Responsible AI depends on a full ecosystem — from computing hardware and data centers to cooling systems, energy, water and the materials that make it all possible.

This session introduces data centers as systems, bringing together perspectives from higher education, advanced computing and industry to examine the infrastructure behind increasingly intensive AI workloads.

The conversation will explore how these systems connect — and help surface the research questions that emerge at their intersection.

Featured Speakers

Raymond Parpart Director of Physical Infrastructure & Data Centers University of Chicago & UChicago Medicine

Tim Boerner Associate Director, Integrated Cyberinfrastructure National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), UIUC

Bill Schaumann Principal Engineer & Data Center Infrastructure Specialist Burns & McDonnell

About the Series

The systems behind responsible AI.

Responsible AI extends across the full ecosystem: hardware, cooling and HVAC, new materials for heat transport, real-time GPU elasticity and the complex trade-offs between energy, water and compute.

The monthly Energy-Water-Compute Nexus Seminar Series brings together faculty and researchers from UIUC, UIC, UChicago, Northwestern and industry partners to surface new research ideas and build cross-institutional momentum around Responsible AI.

Hosted by Discovery Partners Institute and the Grainger College of Engineering, the series creates space for researchers, industry experts, partners and other stakeholders to examine the interconnected systems shaping AI's future.

Organized by
Prof. Klara Nahrstedt 
Prof. Phil Krein 
Jagadeesh Yedetore 

Discovery Partners Institute 
Grainger College of Engineering
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Questions: ynj@uillinois.edu
Event page: Energy-Water-Compute Nexus Seminar Series