{"id":51041,"date":"2025-12-15T01:25:45","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T07:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nelson.wisc.edu\/the-commons\/?p=51041"},"modified":"2026-03-13T15:17:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:17:41","slug":"notes-from-the-dean-winter-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nelson.wisc.edu\/the-commons\/notes-from-the-dean-winter-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes From the Dean"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dear alumni and friends,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcome to the winter edition of The Commons<\/em>: The Earth Issue. If you recall the theme of our redesign debut back in September \u2014 water<\/em><\/a> \u2014 you may notice a trend: we\u2019re working our way through the elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is, naturally, much to cover when it comes to earth, including both its lowercase (material) and capitalized (planetary) forms. This issue explores E\/earth in many ways, including things that grow and things that destroy, resources from critical minerals to dirt and soil, and, perhaps most importantly, the inextricable relationship those of us who inhabit Earth have to each other and to the land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n\"Dean\n\n\n\n
Paul Robbins<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

I was excited when the editorial team pitched me the concept for this issue\u2019s Deep Dive, as it\u2019s one that I have spent many, many<\/em> hours thinking about in recent months: the environmental impacts of AI<\/a>; specifically, the enormous data centers that power them. In her early reporting stages, our writer encountered a problem: most faculty she reached out to responded that they didn\u2019t have any published articles on the topic yet \u2014 or that they didn\u2019t even have any funding for studies. Part of the wickedness in the problem of how AI is affecting our planet lies in the speed of its development. Even so, work is ongoing by UW\u2014Madison faculty, students, and scientists on provisioning renewable energy for AI, on land use impacts from data center campus developments, on sometimes divisive local land use policies, and on the endless water demands for all these developments. It\u2019s emerging the most important environmental question of the 21st century, and fast<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time as this issue\u2019s development, coincidentally, a unique opportunity arose to put real dollars behind hypothetical questions our smartest minds have been asking about this very problem. I imagine many of you saw headlines last month about UW\u2013Madison\u2019s new research partnership \u2014 led by the Nelson Institute \u2014 with QTS Data Centers, which is planning a hyperscale campus in the nearby Town of Vienna. This column feels like a good place to share an inside look at how this partnership came to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After an initial connection by the UW\u2013Madison Office of Business Engagement, our new Nelson Institute Enterprise<\/a> \u2014 under the leadership of Tracey Holloway \u2014 led the charge to develop an innovative, meaningful partnership with QTS to both advance sustainability research and mitigate the environmental impacts of a rapidly evolving data center landscape. Practically, that looks like $1.5 million from QTS to support Nelson-led research into the environmental impacts of large data centers. The investment will fund 14 projects<\/a>, which were proposed by UW faculty across schools and colleges and selected by QTS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you read through this issue\u2019s stories<\/a>, I invite you to consider and share: what environmental problems are keeping you up at night? What questions haven\u2019t been asked yet? Where do you feel stagnation in the search for solutions? At the Nelson Institute, we\u2019re seeking more and more partnerships with communities, institutional partners, companies, and industries who are willing to invest in environmental solutions. We have the expertise to make a difference, and we’re ready to act. The Nelson Institute has always been the place; now is the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On, Wisconsin!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Robbins
Dean, Nelson Institute<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear alumni and friends, Welcome to the winter edition of The Commons: The Earth Issue. If you recall the theme of our redesign debut back in September \u2014 water \u2014 you may notice a trend: we\u2019re working our way through the elements. 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