Data Center Community Forum with an Interdisciplinary Lens to be Held at the University of Dubuque

DUBUQUE, Iowa - A Data Center Community Forum that explores the topic of data center development from an interdisciplinary lens with student scholarship presentations and a panel of journalists will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, November 17, 2026, in the Peter and Susan Smith Welcome Center on the University of Dubuque campus. 

Free and open to the public, the forum is hosted by UD's divisions of aviation and flight, computing and applied technology, humanities, natural sciences, and theology. 

A showcase of student scholarship will open the forum at 5:30 p.m. in the lobby of the Smith Welcome Center. Students have spent the semester examining a variety of concepts and questions related to data centers to better understand and interpret the subject in their respective classes: 

• Aviation Senior Seminar: Students are exploring interconnectedness, allowing them to analyze how seemingly extraneous themes such as aviation, the proliferation of AI, and data centers are connected. 

• Christian Social Ethics: Students are examining how the central principles of Christian social ethics - including neighbor-love, human dignity, the common good, stewardship of creation, and defense of the vulnerable - reframe and inform the ethical questions raised by AI and the data centers that support it. 

• Environmental Ethics: Students have been cultivating their attention and moral vision through a field journaling practice and are turning their attention to data centers. Their work is an effort to see the issue more clearly and accurately, with an awareness of their own biases and blind spots. 

• Introduction to Environmental Science: Students are researching potential environmental and community impacts of a proposed data center in Peosta, Iowa. Through a student-led environmental impact assessment, they are examining water use, energy demand, land use, air quality, noise, and community impacts, drawing on scientific literature, public records, and local data. 

• Literature and AI: Students are researching more about some of the most hot-button topics in today's AI debate to present the questions and research behind the headlines. 

• Public Policy: Students are considering what ethical questions are raised by "risky new technologies" - technologies so new that you can't calculate their risks.  

• Information Policy and Ethics: Students are investigating the topic of data centers by adopting different stakeholder perspectives and discussing the positive and negative aspects of the issues. 

The forum will transition to a panel discussion and Q&A at 6:00 p.m. in Room 264 of the Smith Welcome Center with three journalists from across the region who will share their insights and interpretations.  

Panelists will be Benjamin Fisher, a freelance journalist, writer, and analyst based in Dubuque; Tom Kertscher, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based reporter for Wisconsin Watch, a Madison, Wisconsin-based nonprofit newsroom; and Grace Nieland, the Linn County local government reporter for The Gazette, a newspaper published in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 

"We hope this will be an opportunity to learn from each other about an issue that is affecting communities across the country. We strive to model curiosity, openness to different perspectives, and a spirit of collaboration and inquiry," said Christine Darr, PhD, associate professor of philosophy. 

Financial support provided by the Wendt Center for Character and Leadership.