Pedagogical PCB; Data Center Development in Southside Virginia: Examining Economic and Environmental Tradeoffs 12 views

Currently, the introductory embedded systems curriculum at the University of Virginia is taught using microcontrollers with limited input and output capabilities. To create a more hands-on and practical learning environment, a new pedagogical tool is needed. My capstone group developed a custom printed circuit board designed to interface with industry-standard microcontrollers to expand their functionality. These microcontrollers act as the brain of the system, and our board allows them to interact with a diverse suite of peripheral devices such as an LCD screen, audio components, and various environmental sensors. This provides a much broader range of design opportunities than the standalone hardware allows. My capstone project seeks to use technology to improve the learning experience of students in a specific course at UVA. My STS project, on the other hand, researches how the construction of data centers in rural Southside Virginia is justified, and what effect they will have on the local environment. I am applying two theories of STS to help analyze my problem-solving approach. The first is “Sociotechnical Imaginaries” developed by Sheila Jasanoff, which interprets how developers promise visions of a high-tech future to justify actions in the present, such as data center construction. The second is Star and Ruhleder’s concept of Infrastructural Invisibility, which connects the marketed invisibility of the “cloud” with the very real infrastructure that must be built to maintain it. I am using a qualitative document analysis of zoning applications, county board of supervisor meeting minutes, and economic justification statements to understand how the narratives are constructed that these data centers are beneficial for the region as well as the actual infrastructural burden they will put on the environment. I expect to find that the data centers are marketed as good for the local economy because they bring jobs to an area that has been hurt by the loss of manufacturing jobs and the decline of agriculture. I also expect that the environmental burden (such as land usage, water consumption, power consumption, etc.) will be costly. The implication of my technical project is that technology can be used to improve the education of students, which helps train the next generation of engineers to do work that can improve the quality of life for people around the globe. The implication of my STS project is that the rapid spread of technology (specifically data centers in this project) can lead to the destruction of rural land and the depletion of natural resources.

BS (Bachelor of Science)

Hughes Award 2026; Hughes Award 2026 Winner; Data Centers; Southside Virginia; Sociotechnical Imaginaries

School of Engineering and Applied Science Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering Technical Advisor: Rumali Siddiqua STS Advisor: Rider Foley Technical Team Members: Connor Cutshall, Miles Mayhew

All rights reserved by the author (no additional license for public reuse)

2026-05-02