Data Center Cooling with Kelley Mullick - #30

<p>In this episode I talk with Dr. Kelley Mullick a data centerexpert and the CEO and co-Founder of Avayla Consulting Group. The focus of thisepisode is on the technology and methods used to cool data centers. We startthe episode discussing Kelley’s academic background as a chemist and breakinginto the data center field at Intel.</p><p>Then we get into data center cooling. Kelley explains themetrics used to evaluate the thermal performance of data centers, the overallincrease in compute power usage in the AI age, common cooling methods such asair and liquid cooling, how data center operators determine the optimal coolingmix for their facility, the costs of retrofitting a data center with moreadvanced cooling technology and much more. I hope you enjoy!</p><p> </p><p>ARTICLES &amp; PAPERS:</p><p>Kelley’s PhD dissertation: https://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1324247960</p><p>CPU Cooler: Liquid Cooling Vs. Air Cooling: <a href="https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/gaming/resources/cpu-cooler-liquid-cooling-vs-air-cooling.html">https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/gaming/resources/cpu-cooler-liquid-cooling-vs-air-cooling.html</a></p><p>Alibaba is developing its own immersion cooling tech: <a href="https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/alibaba-is-developing-its-own-immersion-cooling-tech/">https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/alibaba-is-developing-its-own-immersion-cooling-tech/</a></p><p>Hybrid Liquid Cooling Is the Only Way to Stop AI fromBoiling Over by Kelley Mullick: <a href="https://thesiliconreview.com/2025/11/hybrid-liquid-cooling-is-the-only-way-to-stop-ai-from-boiling-over">https://thesiliconreview.com/2025/11/hybrid-liquid-cooling-is-the-only-way-to-stop-ai-from-boiling-over</a></p><p>Cool It: Team Tackles the Thermal Challenge Data CentersFace: <a href="https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/liquid-cooling-doe-challenge/">https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/liquid-cooling-doe-challenge/</a></p><p>Americans Oppose AI Data Centers in Their Area: <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/709772/americans-oppose-data-centers-area.aspx">https://news.gallup.com/poll/709772/americans-oppose-data-centers-area.aspx</a></p><p>How is Switch Building AI-Ready Sustainable Data Centres?: <a href="https://datacentremagazine.com/news/how-is-switch-building-ai-ready-sustainable-data-centres">https://datacentremagazine.com/news/how-is-switch-building-ai-ready-sustainable-data-centres</a></p><p> </p><p>BOOKS:</p><p>Nancy Drew Series</p><p>MUSIC INTRO/OUTRO:</p><p>massobeats - chamomile (https://youtu.be/YFuAgsA4bNI)</p><p> </p><p>CONNECT: </p><p>LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrian-dolinay-frm-96a289106/ </p><p>GitHub: https://github.com/ad17171717 X:https://twitter.com/DolinayG </p><p>Odysee: https://odysee.com/@adriandolinay:0 </p><p>Medium: https://medium.com/@adriandolinay</p><p> </p><p>PODCAST: </p><p>Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-aspiring-stem-geek/id1765996824 </p><p>Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/The-Aspiring-STEM-Geek/B0DC73S9SN</p><p>iHeart Radio: https://iheart.com/podcast/202676097/ </p><p>Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/60dPNJbDPaPw7ru8g5btxV</p><p> </p><p>|-Video Chapters-|</p><p>0:00 – Intro<br>1:32 – Kelley’s interest in STEM and the arts<br>2:23 – Studying chemistry in undergrad and grad school<br>6:17 – Defining what a data center is<br>7:13 – Kelley’s time at Intel<br>9:33 – Why compute needs to be cooled<br>10:33 – Metrics to measure the thermal performance of a data center<br>13:39 – Colocation operator vs hyperscalers<br>14:55 – AI and increased compute power usage<br>20:15 – Components outside of compute that contribute to a data center’sthermal load<br>20:48 – Data center cooling methods<br>26:16 – How data center operators determine the optimal cooling architecture<br>29:17 – Data centers outside of the United States<br>31:40 – The potential best path for data center cooling<br>34:28 – Feasibility of retrofitting data centers with more advanced cooling<br>