Students investigate data center cooling as a real engineering challenge and use evidence from a visit to a new data center to define criteria, constraints, and manageable design problems. A major part of the work is literacy: students closely read technical articles, equipment manuals, and partner-provided documents, annotate key information, compare sources, and write clear evidence-based design justifications for different audiences. Working with input from data center partners, they analyze heat-load, airflow, energy, cost, maintenance, and reliability tradeoffs to answer how a cooling solution can be practical to build, test, and maintain while keeping a small data center safe and efficient. Over five sessions, they create and refine a system design or company guidelines supported by data analysis, simulation, discussion, and technical writing, then present and defend their recommendations at a community exhibition.

Students will define the data center cooling problem by identifying criteria and constraints such as temperature control, airflow, energy use, cost, maintenance, and reliability, then break the system into manageable subsystems for investigation. They will read technical texts, site notes, diagrams, data tables, and partner-provided documents to determine key information, evaluate claims, build domain vocabulary, and write clear design justifications, testing procedures, and company-ready guidelines. They will collect and analyze temperature, airflow, and heat-load data, use digital tools or simulations to test design ideas, and compare solutions using evidence and cost-benefit reasoning. Working in teams with input from data center partners, students will create and refine a feasible cooling system design or set of company guidelines, document their procedures and decision-making, and present recommendations to a community audience.

Students will create a field-notes log, technical vocabulary journal, and question set during the data center visit, then build a shared problem brief that identifies cooling criteria, constraints, and changing heat-load scenarios using evidence from industry texts and site observations. In teams, they will produce annotated readings, test data charts, a simple computer simulation or spreadsheet model, and labeled sketches for a small data center cooling approach, along with brief technical writing pieces that explain design choices and interpret data. By the end, each team will present a system design or a practical set of cooling guidelines for companies to use, supported by performance data, maintenance considerations, cost-benefit analysis, reliability recommendations, and a concise professional report. For the community exhibition, students will also create a presentation board or slide deck and a stakeholder-facing summary that communicates their solution clearly to data center partners and other community members.

Begin with a visit to a local or newly opened data center where students document cooling equipment, airflow pathways, sensor systems, and maintenance constraints while interviewing technicians and closely reading site maps, equipment labels, operating procedures, and maintenance logs to gather evidence about overheating risks, energy costs, and reliability demands. Back in class, teams annotate their notes and technical texts, build a shared glossary of HVAC and data center terms, and analyze photos, temperature/load data, and partner-provided documents to identify the core design problem, define criteria and constraints, and generate testable questions about safe and efficient cooling under changing heat loads. Then present a short design brief from the community partner asking students to create either a small-scale cooling system design or a set of practical guidelines companies could use, supported by a brief evidence-based written rationale that cites findings from the visit and readings. Close the launch with a quick gallery walk in which teams present their initial claims, evidence, and design ideas so they can compare approaches and select a focus for the five-week project.

Host a community design review where student teams present their cooling system design or company guidelines to local data center staff, facilities managers, school leaders, families, and other community members. Each team should display a compact prototype or simulation, annotated technical diagrams, key performance data, a cost-benefit analysis, a maintenance plan, and a concise written executive summary that explains how the solution handles changing heat loads safely and efficiently. Include a feedback panel with data center partners who question teams on practicality, reliability, energy use, buildability, and the clarity of their technical writing, then have students revise one final recommendation memo based on that input. Conclude with a public showcase walk-through in which visitors read team materials, ask questions, and vote on the most feasible, sustainable, and well-communicated solution.