# CAREER: Towards Sustainable Computing with Carbon-Efficient Integrated Electro-Photonic Fabrics

> **NSF 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT** · University of Kentucky Research Foundation (KY) · $598,325

## Abstract

Carbon emissions from powering information and computing technologies (ICT) are projected to increase to 8% of worldwide carbon emissions over the next decade due to the explosion of computing required in everyday consumer electronic devices and systems. Recent studies have shown that integrated electro-photonics-based fabrics (the base layer chips are built on) for communication and computing, compared to conventional electronic fabrics, can result in substantially higher energy and carbon efficiency (up to 100× in some cases) for future computing hardware platforms. This project leverages the energy efficiency of electro-photonic hardware fabrics to investigate their embodied carbon efficiency (related to carbon emissions due to hardware manufacturing and product infrastructure-related activities) following the universally accepted sustainability tenets of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. The goal is to develop an infrastructure for designing sustainable computing platforms using carbon-efficient electro-photonic hardware components. The project’s novelties are (1) employing the principles of heterogeneity, reconfigurability, and recycling to design multi-functional and multi-lifespan electro-photonic transceiver and accelerator architectures, (2) transforming the sustainability, performance, resource utilization, and lifetime reliability of electro-photonics-based computing platforms using carbon-efficient cross-layer design techniques, and (3)creating novel educational materia

## Key facts

- **NSF award ID:** 2443677
- **Awardee organization:** University of Kentucky Research Foundation (KY)
- **SAM.gov UEI:** H1HYA8Z1NTM5
- **PI:** Ishan G Thakkar
- **Primary program:** 01002526DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
- **All programs:** EXP PROG TO STIM COMP RES, CAREER-Faculty Erly Career Dev
- **Estimated total:** $598,325
- **Funds obligated:** $235,107
- **Transaction type:** Continuing Grant
- **Period:** 07/01/2025 → 06/30/2030

## Primary source

NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2443677

## Citation

> US National Science Foundation, Award 2443677, CAREER: Towards Sustainable Computing with Carbon-Efficient Integrated Electro-Photonic Fabrics. Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-07 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nsf/2443677. Licensed CC0.

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