The Nanoscale Energy and Interfacial Transport (NEIT) Lab, part of the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Maryland (UMD) College Park, is proud to announce its successful participation in the highly competitive COOLERCHIPS program by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), a division of the U.S. Department of Energy. Out of a total of 15 projects awarded nationwide, NEIT Lab has secured funding for two groundbreaking research initiatives.

The COOLERCHIPS program aims to revolutionize data center energy and operational efficiency by developing novel cooling and data center technologies. NEIT Lab’s exceptional research proposals have been recognized as significant contributions to this critical area of advancement, earning them coveted grants from ARPA-E.

In collaboration with the University of Texas Arlington, NEIT Lab will spearhead the development of a pioneering two-phase evaporative cooling cold plate specifically designed for high-powered electronics and servers. This innovative project will pave the way for advanced cooling solutions that enhance the performance and sustainability of data centers.

Additionally, NEIT Lab will collaborate with Prof. Patrick McCluskey at UMD to develop a neural network-based tool as an alternative to computational fluid dynamics (CFD). This cutting-edge software tool will be an integral part of a comprehensive data center optimization software, led by UMD, and developed in collaboration with multiple teams. By leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques, this tool promises to revolutionize the optimization process, enhancing the efficiency and reliability of data centers.