Uncovering the details around data centers

UofL’s Envirome Center creates series for community to learn about AI data centers 

The rapid rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) over the past few years has revolutionized how we work, live and grow as a society. AI is transforming our industries, from healthcare to finance to creative services. 

With AI come questions, and the University of Louisville is dedicated to bringing answers through research and academic initiatives that uncover solutions for our campus and community. 

The Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute is hosting a summer series to teach the community about the ins and outs of AI and data centers. The weekly webinars continue until July 8 with a culminating session on July 23 at 6 p.m. featuring a film screening, followed by a panel discussion.

Through six virtual webinars, The Exchange will bring in subject matter experts to examine data center impacts in topics such as health, community and the environment. The webinars, hosted by the Community Engagement Cores of Green Heart Louisville and the UofL Superfund Research Center, are free and open to the public. 

Data center developers are investing more than $30 billion in large-scale data centers across the state of Kentucky to keep up with the demand of the booming AI industry. The webinar series aims to help the community learn how to navigate the impact of these efforts, in response to significant local interest in the subject.

The first webinar, “Data Centers 101: What is a Data Center?” was hosted virtually on June 3. Mohana Gutta from the UofL J.B. Speed School of Engineering gave attendees a foundational understanding of data centers, which are facilities designed to house computing systems. Gutta explained that data centers have many functions, from hosting websites and storing data to supporting artificial intelligence and data analytics workloads. AI data centers require more energy, water and infrastructure than other data centers, making it more difficult to keep up with the rising needs of the AI industry. 

“The challenge is understanding what society needs from data centers and building AI infrastructure that is responsible, resilient and aligned with public expectations,” Gutta said. 

Register for the series at the Zoom website. 

Webinar topics include:

• June 3 - What is a Data Center?
• June 10 - Data Centers & Health
• June 17 - Data Centers & the Community
• June 24 - The Economics of Data Centers
• July 1 - Data Centers & the Environment
• July 8 - Data Centers & Policy

Webinar recordings will be available after each event on the Envirome Institute's YouTube channel. 

Article updated June 9, 2026