As part of a $200,000 Impact Goal grant from the Institute on the Environment (IonE), University of Minnesota Morris Assistant Professor of Computer Science Wenkai Guan will serve as the principal investigator to collaborate with a national, interdisciplinary research team. The team aims to develop a predictive tool that helps communities, regulators and data center operators better understand and monitor the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure on both water quantity and water quality.
The use of AI continues to expand into many areas of our daily lives, and that is creating an increasing need for large-scale data centers. These data centers require enormous amounts of water—between 1 and 5 million gallons per day, similar to the daily water use of a mid-sized Minnesota city. AI data centers consume a high quantity of water for two major reasons—cooling and electricity needs. However, communities and regulators often lack the information needed to understand and manage the environmental impacts of these facilities.
To address the data gaps in water demand for large-scale data centers, this project builds upon a previous IonE mini grant that modeled the micro-level water consumption of graphic processing unit (GPU)-based AI workloads. Co-designed with the Freshwater Society and the UMN Morris Clifford J. Benson Center for Community Partnerships, the project elevates a proof-of-concept from GPU-level modeling to a facility-level, predictive decision-support dashboard.
Freshwater and Benson Center will help design stakeholder metrics, community impact reports and educational materials. The aim is to empower regulators, communities and data center operators to collaboratively optimize water circularity and mitigate cumulative chemical and thermal pollution across Minnesota’s watersheds.
The interdisciplinary team spans computer science, electrical and computer engineering, environmental science, and community partners. Led by UMN Morris, the research coalition includes faculty from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Arizona State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Harvard University, and Columbia University.
“Supported by the Division of Science and Mathematics and the Morris Grant Development Office, this collaborative project is an example of the sustainability story and the Morris Model in practice right here on our campus,” said Guan. “It also aligns with our campus-level vision by actively supporting UMN Morris undergraduate researchers, giving them the opportunity to conduct research at the intersection of AI and environmental sustainability.”
The Impact Goal grants are IonE’s largest annual disbursement of research funding—this year, awarding almost $1.5 million to 10 interdisciplinary project teams. Through this program, IonE works to catalyze collaborative research projects that result in measurable outcomes and meaningful advances in sustainability in Minnesota, our region and the world.