{"id":16904,"date":"2026-03-20T11:40:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T03:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/?post_type=nus-news&#038;p=16904"},"modified":"2026-04-21T08:59:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T00:59:48","slug":"building-the-future-of-tropical-data-centres-cooler-cleaner-and-talent-ready","status":"publish","type":"nus-news","link":"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/news\/building-the-future-of-tropical-data-centres-cooler-cleaner-and-talent-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"Building the future of tropical data centres: cooler, cleaner, and talent-ready"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_16905\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16905\" style=\"width: 1024px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone left\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-16905 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-3-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-3-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-3-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-3-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-3-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16905\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"font-size: 13px;text-align: left\">Photo (From left to right): Assoc Prof Md Raisul Islam, Department of Mechanical Engineering, NUS; Al Ward, Chairman of AHRI\u2019s Global Services Committee; Prof Lee Poh Seng, Head of Department, Department of Mechanical Engineering, NUS; Dom LaVigne, Chief Representative for ASEAN, AHRI; Assoc Prof Chui Chee Kong, Deputy Head (Undergraduate Programmes), Department of Mechanical Engineering, NUS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The key areas for collaboration are:<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Standards &amp; Certification:<\/strong>Exploring how AHRI standards and certification programmes can support heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) related data centre standards in Singapore, with NUS faculty engaging in AHRI technical committees and working groups.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Curriculum &amp; Talent Development:<\/strong>\u00a0Partnering on curriculum input, guest lectures, internships, career fairs, innovation programmes, and student capstone projects to nurture the next generation of HVACR talent.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sustainable Cooling for the Tropics:\u00a0<\/strong>Supporting NUS ME\u2019s Sustainable Tropical Data Centre Testbed (STDCT) at Kent Ridge, which targets over 25% energy savings, 30\u201340% water-use reduction, and lower carbon emissions, while exploring collaboration on STDCT 2.0, a multi-megawatt pilot project with NUS and JTC at Jurong Island.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-16906 size-large alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-16907 size-large alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-2-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/me\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/MOU-16MAR-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Associate Professor Teo Chiang Juay, Vice Dean of Undergraduate Programmes at CDE, and Professor Lee Poh Seng, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, signed the MOU. Assoc Prof Chee Kong Chui, Deputy Head of Undergraduate Programmes, and Assoc Prof Md Raisul Islam, both from the Department of Mechanical Engineering; were also present at the signing ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>Assoc Prof Md Raisul Islam said, \u201cThis MOU between NUS and AHRI marks an important step in strengthening collaboration between academia and the Air Conditioning, Heating, Ventilation and Refrigeration industry. Through joint initiatives in curriculum development, research, internships, and standards development, this partnership will help nurture future engineering talent and advance sustainable cooling solutions for the tropics and data center applications.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We look forward to turning this partnership into practical standards, impactful solutions, and meaningful opportunities for students and industry across ASEAN.<\/p>\n<p>Original article: <a href=\"https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/news\/cde-ahri-mou-to-strengthen-regional-data-centre-collaboration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/cde.nus.edu.sg\/news\/cde-ahri-mou-to-strengthen-regional-data-centre-collaboration\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> On 16 March, AHRI ASEAN signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the College of Design and Engineering at the National University of Singapore (CDE, NUS), through its Department of Mechanical Engineering, to strengthen collaboration in advancing data centre certification, sustainable cooling, and talent development across the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":380,"featured_media":16905,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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