Monday, December 22, 2025
QTS Data Centers has announced a $1.5 million partnership with the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, marking a major step toward advancing research in sustainable infrastructure and environmental impact mitigation. The collaboration will support interdisciplinary research across several UW–Madison departments, focusing on how modern data centers can operate more sustainably while meeting the growing global demand for digital services.
Madison Williams, Chief Investment Officer at QTS, said the agreement reflects a shared vision between the company and the university. “UW is all about sustainability for better data centers,” Williams told The Daily Cardinal. “They want to contribute to the greater good of development.” The partnership aims not only to benefit QTS and the university but also to provide broader value to industry, local communities, and the environment.
The funded initiatives will explore a wide range of topics, including grid stability, renewable fuels, lifecycle environmental impacts of large-scale data centers, and new models for future-ready energy systems. The Nelson Institute’s researchers will work closely with QTS engineers and technical teams, ensuring that projects deliver practical, evidence-based insights that can be applied to real-world data center operations.
Nelson Institute Dean Paul Robbins welcomed the partnership, calling it an opportunity to accelerate meaningful research that can create “more sustainable outcomes” for the industry. This perspective was echoed by Diane Stojanovich, Distinguished Associate Dean for Communications, who emphasized the importance of grounding the collaboration in science-driven findings. “Our focus in this collaboration is providing objective, science-based insights that can benefit both industry and communities in Wisconsin and beyond,” she said.
According to Stojanovich, the partnership began after QTS reached out to UW–Madison’s Office of Business Engagement and the Nelson Institute Enterprise, expressing interest in supporting sustainability-focused research tied to data center operations. However, the company’s presence in Wisconsin has not been without controversy.
QTS, headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia, relocated its planned facilities to DeForest after the Town of Vienna rejected an agreement following significant community opposition. Some residents have raised concerns about environmental impacts, energy consumption, and land development associated with large data centers. One local resident, Mary Sanderson, questioned the university’s decision to accept the funding, calling it “blood money from QTS.”
Despite community pushback, others view the project as a necessary and forward-looking investment in digital infrastructure. North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters representative Andrew Disch highlighted the societal reliance on data and connectivity. “If your answer is ‘don’t build it,’ then what’s your solution?” he said. “Because as a society, we rely on the modern-day conveniences that data centers are providing.”
In addition, the Building Trades Council of South Central Wisconsin—which includes 17 local trade unions—recently announced a partnership with QTS to support construction of the massive $12 billion data center complex. The project is expected to generate thousands of construction and technical jobs. Tracy Griffith, an Executive Director for the council, said, “Projects like these will help stabilize our local construction workforce, creating predictable employment and supporting long-term career growth.”
The QTS–UW partnership represents a growing trend of collaboration between academia and infrastructure providers aiming to create more sustainable, efficient, and community-aligned data center models. As demand for computing power accelerates, the research emerging from this collaboration could help shape the environmental and economic future of data center development across the United States.
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