Boosting Energy-Efficient Research
Dr. John Bowers is a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering at the UC Santa Barbara College of Engineering and holds the Fred Kavli Chair in Nanotechnology. He is also the director of UC Santa Barbara’s Institute for Energy Efficiency (IEE), to which he has designated a legacy gift in support of graduate students.
“Graduate students leave UC Santa Barbara as successfully trained researchers in the field. They go on to solve problems of energy efficiency around the world,” Bowers said. He hopes his support will increase the number of graduate students in the program, amplifying the institute’s impact.
Since its establishment in 2008, IEE has led the world in groundbreaking discoveries and technologies that save energy while advancing the standard of living worldwide. Projects within each IEE research theme — Computing + Communications, Food Energy Water, Smart Societal Infrastructure — develop new technologies for improving and ensuring a more sustainable future.
Bowers’ research in laser-based photonics has facilitated gains in energy-efficient data transmission. He estimates that computing is 1,000 times more efficient than it was 15 years ago, when the IEE was founded. Given the rapid growth of artificial intelligence technologies and the urgency of climate change, their work to increase the efficiency of data centers is crucial. Data centers provide AI models with computing power, and in doing so, consume vast amounts of electricity.
“Data centers are revolutionizing our society, and they can make us all much more productive,” said Bowers. “The problem is that very advanced chips require a kilowatt of power each, and a data center has a million of them linked together. Using photonics rather than wire is a much more efficient way to move data throughout those kilometer-long facilities.”
Increased computing efficiency is just one field of achievement for the institute. IEE provided a seed grant to Nobel laureate and professor of materials and electrical and computer engineering Shuji Nakamura to collaborate with Professors Steven DenBaars and Phillip Christopher to design new LED lasers to enhance faster, more energy-efficient catalytic processes. Computer science Professors Chandra Krintz and Rich Wolski explore how cloud computing innovations can help farmers manage crops with higher productivity and less energy output. Their lab and SmartFarm project is part of an IEE goal for renewable energy to constitute 50% of U.S. energy production by 2030 and 100% by 2050. Home electricity consumption, more efficient batteries, improvements to the U.S. energy grid, and photon-based quantum networks are more examples of the overlapping projects pursued by labs at IEE.
Bowers is excited by the efforts of IEE researchers and the graduate students who collaborate with them. Graduate students are vital to each project, and Bowers’ legacy gift will advance broad research across the institute.
“If you can give back to the university, that is satisfying and needed,” said Bowers. “I think we’re just at the beginning of an important road to make everything in our society more efficient and sustainable.”