Discussion on data centers draws crowd to Inspiration Hall

On Oct. 27 The Burton K. Wheeler Center held an event in Inspiration Hall, discussing Montana data centers. The event featured experts in electrical power systems, environmental law and AI and data systems. The moderator, Eric Raile — an MSU professor in the Department of Political Science — supplied questions to the panel to facilitate a civil, informative debate and discussion.“Data centers are not a new thing. We've been building data centers for about 50 years,” said Coltran Hophan-Nichols, director of Systems and Research Computing at MSU, who oversees computational artificial intelligence and data systems management. “In Gallatin Valley right here, we have a number of data centers that have been here for decades,” he said. According to Hophan-Nichols, data centers are critical for everyday activities such as using a credit card, accessing a website or texting.

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