A day-long Symposium on AI, Data Centers and the Climate Change Challenge took place on October 30, 2025. The event, co-sponsored by STPP, was launched by Shalanda Baker, U-M’s inaugural vice provost for sustainability and climate action and professor at the School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS).
The symposium’s keynote speaker was Ruha Benjamin, a sociologist who is the Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. Roundtable discussion topics included:
- Sustainability Implications of AI and Data
- Policy and Governance of Data Centers
- Community Impact
- AI and Academic Experience
The symposium continued into the afternoon with a session focused on research and cross-campus, collaborative efforts to develop a futures-oriented perspective for U-M to take in addressing the challenges raised in the morning session.
Read the full story from SEAS here.
Read more about the event sponsorship and speaker here.
