Industry Insider Perspective: Critical Infrastructure
Bill Dean, M.C. Dean chief executive officer, opened the program by framing AI infrastructure as an energy and systems challenge, where accelerating compute demand is driving rapid changes in system architecture and straining the grid. He emphasized the need to scale infrastructure through advanced manufacturing and integrated modeling, supported by systems-level engineering across energy, controls, and delivery to keep pace with AI growth.
Panel | Building at Scale: How Data Centers Get Designed, Built & Deployed
Bill joined industry leaders from HITT Contracting and Smith Group to discuss modular construction, supply chain constraints, and design decisions shaping performance and scalability.
He shared, “Our industry is changing fast. The ability to take a site, extract the most complex portions, and bring them into a manufacturing environment is transforming how we build. The state of Virginia is the ecosystem enabler, and this is an amazing opportunity.”
Panel | Security & Resilience in Critical Digital Infrastructure
Eric Dean, M.C. Dean chief technology officer and senior vice president for Security & Electronic Systems, participated in a panel examining cyber and physical security challenges tied to AI-scale infrastructure, including risk management, uptime, and national and economic security considerations.
Booth | Modular Solutions & Early Career Recruiting
Our booth showcased M.C. Dean’s Modular Mission Critical™ campus and modular solutions, with engineering teams leading discussions during the morning Industry Showcase and networking breaks. Early career and engineering team members also engaged graduate students to discuss career opportunities and pathways at M.C. Dean.
