Coskun brings new approaches to managing energy demands
As AI continues its explosive growth, so does its energy demand, pushing the U.S. electric grid toward its limits. With the rise of increasingly complex AI models and cloud-based applications, data centers are becoming power-hungry giants. Projected to use up to 9% of U.S. power by 2030, data centers increasingly strain the grid, threatening the resilience of everyday services like air conditioning, ATMs, and internet access.
Ayse Coskun, a professor of engineering (ECE, SE) and Center for Information & Systems Engineering (CISE) Director at Boston University, has pioneered transformative research at the forefront of a paradigm shift in how data centers should approach energy consumption. Her research, promoting data center energy flexibility, is increasingly critical to support grid stability and sustainability. Coskun is now extending her expertise to the commercial sector as the Chief Scientist at Emerald AI, a new company that aims to control the computational power demand from data centers running AI workloads, while ensuring performance guarantees.
Emerald AI is developing a software platform that interfaces with grid signals to dynamically orchestrate compute workloads, adjusting data center power use to meet both grid and performance requirements. With this capability, Emerald AI envisions a system of “Al Virtual Power Plants” that transform data centers from power-hungry liabilities into grid-stabilizing assets. As chief scientist, Coskun is working on Emerald’s vision and technical scoping of the software, guiding the demos, prototypes, and products.
“Today, two massive infrastructures are colliding—data centers and the power grid,” says Coskun. “The explosive growth in data center energy demand is outpacing what the grid can handle. Our platform sits at the interface, enabling power flexibility so data centers can come online faster; AI can scale more broadly; and the grid can grow more resilient, reliable, and affordable.”