UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As artificial intelligence (AI) data centers have popped up in locations across the United States, so too have questions and concerns regarding their impact on local environments and communities. In an effort to address the issues surrounding their construction and operation, the Penn State Dickinson Law Center for Excellence in Energy and Environmental Law is hosting "AI Data Centers: A Problem-Solving Approach," an interdisciplinary symposium engaging engineers, architects, scientists, educators, activists, citizens and civic leaders.
The symposium will take place 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5, in the Greg Sutliff Auditorium of the Lewis Katz Building, and will be livestreamed to the Carlisle location of Penn State Dickinson Law. The symposium is open to the University community and the general public, and there is no cost to attend. Breakfast and lunch will be provided. Registration is required and will be open through Oct. 30. Learn more and register online.
The symposium will kick off with a networking breakfast, followed by introductory remarks by Jamison Colburn, A. Robert Noll Distinguished Professor of Law and director of the Center for Excellence in Energy and Environmental Law. After opening remarks, the event will include two panels in the morning, a networking lunch, and two panels in the afternoon. The four panels are organized along the following topics:
- "Data Centers in a Community Context"
- "Data Centers in a Regional Context"
- "Focal Barriers," which will draw out what have become the looming barriers to continued AI and data center development in the United States
- "The Broadest Contexts," which will extend the day’s themes into the broadest contexts in which AI and infrastructure impasses have now taken up residence
Expert panelists include:
- Kristen Bowman-Kavanagh, deputy executive director, Delaware River Basin Commission
- Nilanjan Ray Chaudhuri, professor of electrical engineering, Penn State College of Engineering
- Catherine Chen, Steedman Fellow and Visiting Critic, Cornell College of Architecture, Art, and Planning
- Andrew Dehoff, executive director, Susquehanna River Basin Commission
- Ralph Exton, executive director, Water Environment Federation
- Mike Helbing, executive director, Penn State Center for Energy Law & Policy
- Michael Hicks, emeritus professor, Ball State University
- Rachel Housego, assistant professor of geosciences, Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
- Jesse LaCavalier, associate professor, Cornell College of Architecture, Art, and Planning
- Lauren McPhillips, associate professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Penn State College of Engineering
- Erich W. Schienke, assistant teaching professor, John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering
- Amy Stein, Cone, Wagner, Nugent, Hazouri & Roth Professor of Law and UF Research Foundation Professor, University of Florida Levin College of Law
- Zheng Tian, assistant research professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences
- Hannah Wiseman, professor of law at Penn State Dickinson Law and Wilson Faculty Fellow, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; co-director of the Penn State Center for Energy Law and Policy
- Andy Yencha, extension educator, Penn State
- Wangda Zuo, professor of architectural engineering, Penn State College of Engineering
"AI Data Centers: A Problem-Solving Approach," is the inaugural event of the Center for Excellence in Energy and Environmental Law. The Center is Penn State Dickinson Law's home for the intersection of law, policy, practice, and careers in energy and the environment. Guided by student-focused professors and allied alumni, friends, and colleagues from around the University, this center brings expertise, opportunity and professional development from law school to the world.