Praveen Kumar

Abstract Title

Beyond the Compute–Energy Nexus: Integrating Regional Water Availability into the Infrastructure Equation
The explosive growth of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and data-centric innovation has exposed a critical third dimension of the infrastructure equation: water. While the compute–energy nexus has rightly drawn attention to grid resilience, efficiency, and thermal management, these systems are equally constrained by their dependence on regional water resources for cooling, energy generation, and ecosystem balance. This talk expands the current nexus framework into a compute–energy–water systems nexus, emphasizing the need for scientific approaches that integrate thermodynamics, hydrology, and infrastructure design across scales.
Drawing on examples from the Great Lakes region, we will examine the spatial coupling between freshwater availability, power generation, and data center siting. This region—home to 20% of the world’s surface freshwater and dense industrial–computing development—illustrates both the opportunities and vulnerabilities inherent in large-scale digital infrastructure. The presentation will discuss modeling frameworks that quantify water–energy interdependence, methods for incorporating hydroclimatic predictability into compute siting decisions, and strategies for closing the loop on thermal and water recovery.
By reframing computing expansion through the lens of regional water balance and sustainability, we can begin to treat information infrastructure not as isolated technological assets but as active participants in coupled Earth systems—an essential step toward ensuring resilient, low-carbon, and water-secure growth of AI and data ecosystems.

Biography

Praveen Kumar is the Executive Director for Prairie Research Institute, Urbana-Champaign, and the Colonel Harry F. and Frankie M. Lovell Endowed Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Kumar, an expert in hydrology and a seasoned research leader, studies the complex interactions between the water cycle, climate change, vegetation, and surface and subsurface transport of water and chemicals in human-dominated and natural systems. He has affiliate appointments in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences; the National Center for Supercomputing Applications; the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology; and the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment.Professor Praveen Kumar holds a B.Tech. (Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India 1987), M.S. (Iowa State University 1989), and Ph.D. (University of Minnesota 1993), all in civil engineering. Kumar joined as a faculty at Univ. of Illinois in 1995 where he has been since. Prior to joining University of Illinois, he was a research scientist (January 1993 to July 1995) at the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and Hydrologic Sciences Branch, NASAGoddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA.Dr. His research deals with Hydrocomplexity, the quantitative understanding and prediction of emergent patterns of form and function that arise from complex non-linear multi-scale interactions between soil, water, climate, vegetation and human systems; and how this understanding can be used for innovative solutions to water and sustainability challenges. He has made extensive, deep and signature contributions pertaining to Critical Zone science for intensively managed landscapes, biospherehydrosphere interactions, multi-scale variability of hydrologic processes, hydro-geomorphology, hydroinformatics, and information theory in geosciences. His research has been funded by federal agencies such as NSF, NASA, and NOAA.

Contact

kumar1@illinois.edu