TechVibe Pittsburgh

What do a shared-use SCIF, autonomous driving test track and one of Pittsburgh's top advanced manufacturers have in common? They are all currently under the wing of the Regional Industrial Development Corporation (RIDC).

Jonathan Kersting sits down with Don Smith of the RIDC for a wide-ranging update on the projects reshaping Pittsburgh's tech and manufacturing landscape.

At Mill 19 on Hazelwood Green, RIDC is building a $10 million shared-use SCIF — a hyper-secure facility where companies can engage with classified government projects from the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, and beyond. Partnering with Parallax on an accelerated build-out, the SCIF gives Pittsburgh startups a home-field advantage for defense procurement — no more driving to the Pentagon.

Meanwhile, Hellbender is bringing manufacturing back inside the city limits with plans to scale to 500 jobs — potentially the largest manufacturing deal in the City of Pittsburgh in decades.

Don and Jonathan also cover:

• The evolution of Lawrenceville from NREC's early robotics hub to today's thriving ecosystem
• Neighborhood 91 at the airport, where a 108,000 sq ft spec building is under construction
• ReBuild Manufacturing's rapid ramp-up at the former Alcoa site in New Kensington
• The PennSTART dual-use test track — a two-mile facility for autonomous vehicle testing and first-responder training, opening in 2027
• RIDC's 70-year history of transforming stranded industrial sites into modern innovation spaces
• Why Pittsburgh's robotics, AI, and defense ecosystem is attracting companies from around the world

The Pittsburgh Technology Council produces TechVibe to explore Pittsburgh's technology and innovation economy.

What can happen when one person gives you the encouragement to take the next step?

For Geeta Tahiliani, a simple connection to RedChair Pittsburgh helped change the trajectory of her career and eventually inspired her to help other women find their own path forward.

TechVibe Radio sits down with Kelly Fetick, Geeta Tahiliani and Sunnie Fenk for a conversation about the power of mentorship, community and creating opportunities for women in technology.

Geeta shares her journey from discovering RedChair almost by accident to earning scholarships that connected her with executive coaching, new perspectives and a stronger sense of where she wanted to take her career. Along the way, Sunnie became one of the people encouraging her to apply, get involved and keep pushing forward.

The conversation also previews RedChair Pittsburgh's annual event on October 20 at Robert Morris University, built this year around the theme "The Power of Partnership." The event will explore how mentors, allies and professional relationships can shape careers and lives.

Tune in to hear how:

• Mentorship can unlock opportunities you may not see for yourself.

• RedChair scholarships are helping women navigate critical mid-career transitions.

• Professional communities can combat isolation and create real, lasting connections.

• One act of encouragement can ripple outward as the person being helped becomes a mentor to someone else.

It's a conversation about careers, confidence, community and what becomes possible when someone believes you should take the next step.

The Pittsburgh Technology Council produces TechVibe to explore Pittsburgh's technology and innovation ecosystem.

Pittsburgh is getting a quantum computer. But what exactly does that mean, how does quantum computing work, and why is Pittsburgh one of the places helping push this strange and potentially transformative technology forward?

In the debut episode of Pittsburgh Builds Tomorrow, TechVibe's Jonathan Kersting takes a decidedly non-physicist trip into the world of qubits, quantum entanglement, superposition and computers that operate at temperatures colder than outer space.

Along the way, University of Pittsburgh Senior Vice Chancellor for Research Rob Rutenbar helps explain why quantum computing is moving from science fiction to engineering, with potential applications ranging from cybersecurity and financial services to drug discovery, advanced materials and medicine.

And there's a distinctly Pittsburgh story behind it all. The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center has spent four decades pushing the boundaries of high-performance computing. Now the region is taking another big swing as it prepares to bring quantum computing into that ecosystem.

Come for the qubits. Stay for Einstein's "spooky action at a distance," the million-dollar refrigerator and a computer that looks like it belongs in Versailles.

Pittsburgh Builds Tomorrow explores the people, technologies and big ideas shaping what comes next for Pittsburgh.

Listen to Rob's entire interview here.

What if Pittsburgh and West Virginia stopped thinking like neighboring regions and started acting like one connected technology corridor?

TechVibe Radio goes back to West Virginia with Melissa McKenna of Trilogy Innovations and Bill Walker of West Virginia University for a wide-ranging conversation about the innovation, research and economic opportunities taking shape from Pittsburgh to Morgantown, Bridgeport and beyond.

The discussion uncovers some remarkable work already underway, including WVU research that can extract critical minerals and rare earth elements from acid mine drainage while helping clean up legacy environmental damage. McKenna and Walker also detail new life being brought to former pharmaceutical infrastructure in Morgantown, growing opportunities in health care and energy, and the $321 million NSF-backed regional initiative connecting WVU, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh and partners across a 78-county region.

At the center of the conversation is one big idea: the Pennsylvania-West Virginia state line may be a political boundary, but it does not have to be an innovation boundary.

Hear how closer connections in research, commercialization, workforce, cybersecurity, energy and investment could create a stronger technology corridor along I-79, and why the Mountain State Cyber Summit and Tech Yeah on October 28 in Morgantown could be an important place to start building those relationships face-to-face.

If you think you know West Virginia tech, this conversation may change your map.

The Pittsburgh Technology Council produces TechVibe to explore Pittsburgh's technology innovaton ecosystem.

Stuart Lawrence, founder and CEO of Titan Robotics, joins Jonathan Kersting and Audrey Russo from the Huntington Bank Studios to share the remarkable story behind his Pittsburgh-based robotics company.

What started as a Carnegie Mellon / Air Force Research Lab project to strip paint off fighter jets with high-powered lasers became a 14-year journey of grit, pivots, and breakthroughs. Stuart walks us through:

• The origin story: How a torpedo defense engineer turned robotics builder landed at Carnegie Mellon's NREC, got hooked by 25-ton robots with 40-foot reach and lasers, and spun out Titan Robotics

• The near-death moment: When a three-star general blocked $75 million in contract awards, forcing a years-long pivot from government-only work to commercial manufacturing

• Solving "dull, dirty, and dangerous": How Titan's autonomous systems tackle weld removal, grinding, and sanding of composites without requiring a programmer to operate them

• The labor gap advantage: Why the welding skills shortage is Titan's biggest commercial opportunity, and how adaptive robotics empower operators instead of replacing them

• 14 years, zero fundraising: How Stuart bootstrapped Titan to ~70 employees on government contracts alone, and why now is finally the time to consider outside capital

• Leadership lessons: Why "don't lie to yourself" is his #1 piece of advice, and how instrumenting ROI data guided every technology decision

From vaporizing carcinogenic coatings down to 10 pounds of safe material (versus 2,000 pounds of hazardous waste from traditional methods) to giving factory workers a robot that works like a hammer—intuitive and in their control—Titan Robotics is quietly building the future of autonomous industrial robotics in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Learn more at titanrobots.com

Quantum computing has spent years being described as the technology that's always 10 years away. In Pittsburgh, that future is getting a lot closer.

University of Pittsburgh Senior Vice Chancellor for Research Rob Rutenbar joins Pittsburgh Technology Council President and CEO Audrey Russo to unpack the quantum computer headed to the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center through funding from the National Science Foundation.

And don't worry if you can't tell a qubit from a Q-tip.

Rutenbar starts with the basics, explaining how quantum computers work, why qubits can exist as both zeros and ones, what Einstein meant by "spooky action at a distance," and why Pittsburgh's new Rigetti system has to operate at temperatures colder than outer space.

The PSC's nine-qubit system is considered a starter quantum computer, but its arrival gives Pittsburgh researchers something enormously important: hands-on access to an emerging computing technology that could ultimately tackle problems conventional computers struggle to solve.

Hit play to discover why Pittsburgh is building serious momentum in quantum computing, how quantum could transform cryptography, drug discovery, materials science and optimization, and why pairing a quantum computer with PSC's world-class supercomputing infrastructure creates one very powerful combination.

Quantum isn't just coming.

It's coming to Pittsburgh.

What if your health plan could spot that you need help before a missed appointment, medication gap or health issue turns into something much bigger?

On this episode of Health Care Reinvented, hosts Jonathan Kersting and Audrey Russo talk with Judy Arrow, VP of Health Engagement at Highmark, and Matt Putilla, VP of Product Development at enGen, about how Highmark is combining technology, data and human expertise to make navigating health care easier and more personal.

The goal sounds simple: meet members where they are, identify signals earlier and remove the friction that can make getting care frustrating. Behind the scenes, however, that requires connecting information that once lived in separate systems and giving care teams a more complete picture of each member.

Arrow and Putilla explain how AI is being woven directly into those workflows. It can prepare clinicians before a member call, listen during conversations, provide prompts and summarize interactions afterward. Instead of replacing the human connection, the technology is designed to give clinicians more time to concentrate on it.

The conversation also explores Highmark's move from reactive care management toward earlier intervention, guided handoffs between nurses, pharmacists, behavioral health specialists and social workers, and the growing ability to use near-real-time data to determine when a member may need help now rather than next week.

It's a look behind the curtain at how health care technology, AI and human expertise can work together to create a more connected experience and potentially keep small problems from becoming big ones.

What if the steel in your next flight's landing gear, the components in NASA's Artemis rocket, and even the "chopsticks" catching SpaceX rockets were all forged by a family-owned company in Western Pennsylvania?

In this episode of AMP'd Pittsburgh, host Jonathan Kersting sits down with Anna Barensfeld, fifth-generation leader of Ellwood — a 115-year-old specialty metals and forgings company headquartered in Ellwood City, PA.

Founded in 1910 by Anna's great-great-grandfather, Ellwood has evolved from a small forge shop making crankshafts into a multi-faceted powerhouse producing high-performance alloys, aluminum, and engineered components for aerospace, defense, energy, and beyond. Anna shares the bold bets that shaped the company's trajectory — from her father's decision to build their own steel melt shop in 1985 during the Rust Belt decline, to today's massive investment in a vacuum induction melting furnace that will produce some of the cleanest, most advanced metals on Earth.

The conversation goes deep on:

• Ellwood's philosophy of "Metal with a Mission" — how their products power everyday life, from aircraft landing gear to the power grid
• The critical role family ownership plays in long-term, risk-taking innovation
• Ellwood's involvement in cutting-edge projects for SpaceX, including the rocket-catching chopsticks
• A passionate discussion on workforce development and the Lawrence Mercer Manufacturers Coalition — Anna's initiative to re-energize manufacturing careers in Western Pennsylvania
• Why manufacturing is thriving, not dying, and the urgent need to inspire the next generation of skilled workers • The advanced technology behind modern steelmaking — robotics, automation, CNC programming, and precision welding

Whether you're in manufacturing, economic development, or simply curious about how the materials behind modern civilization get made, this episode will change how you think about American industry.

Produced at the Huntington Bank Studios as part of the AMP'd Pittsburgh series by the Pittsburgh Technology Council.

Listen now and discover why the future of American manufacturing is being forged right here in Western Pennsylvania.

What happens when two major West Virginia technology conferences join forces and invite Pittsburgh to the party?

TechVibe Radio talks with Melissa McKenna of Trilogy Innovations and Bill Walker of West Virginia University about the October 28 Mountain State Cyber Summit and Tech Yeah conference in Morgantown, an event expected to bring together hundreds of leaders from industry, academia and government.

And this isn't just another cybersecurity gathering.

The conference stretches across four major areas including secure and intelligent systems, national security and mission innovation, autonomy and advanced manufacturing, and health and cyber biosecurity. Expect conversations touching AI, aerospace, robotics, healthcare, food security, federal missions and the emerging threats surrounding increasingly connected infrastructure.

Walker, a former Chief of Staff at U.S. Cyber Command, explains how WVU has built deep relationships with federal agencies and industry partners to tackle real national security challenges. McKenna details how combining Mountain State Cyber Summit and Tech Yeah! creates new opportunities for companies, entrepreneurs, researchers and students to connect, collaborate and build.

But perhaps the biggest takeaway is geographic.

Pittsburgh and Morgantown are only about 75 miles apart, with complementary strengths across AI, robotics, energy, manufacturing, cybersecurity, research and federal contracting. As Walker puts it, "The state line's a political boundary. It's not an innovation boundary."

Hit play to discover why Pittsburgh companies should be looking south, why West Virginia organizations should be looking north and how one connected technology corridor could create new companies, contracts, investment and jobs across the region.

The Pittsburgh Technology Council produces TechVibe to explore Pittsburgh's technology and innovation ecosystem.

Can a Pittsburgh robotics company really make massive mining trucks drive themselves — with no human behind the wheel?

In this episode of Tech Vibe, Jonathan Kersting sits down with John Porter, Senior Robotics Engineer at Neya, to unpack how this Pittsburgh-based off-road autonomy company is transforming one of the world's most rugged and dangerous industries: industrial mining. From ultra-class haul trucks with 15-foot-tall tires running fully autonomous load-haul-dump cycles at a production iron ore mine in Western Australia, to building the perception systems and fleet management software that make it all possible — this is a deep dive into the engineering, the grit, and the real-world impact of autonomous mining. And yes, it's all being built right here in Pittsburgh.

There are so many reasons to listen:

• Get an inside look at the perception systems, sensors, and path-planning algorithms that let building-sized vehicles navigate mine sites with zero human input
• Hear the on-the-ground story of deploying autonomous trucks in Western Australia — one of the toughest mining environments on Earth
• Learn how Neya's Mission Planning and Management System (MPMS) coordinates fleets of both autonomous and manned vehicles on the same site
• Discover why safety is the driving force behind removing humans from the cab and into remote command centers
• Find out what's next — from automating shovels and dozers to building fully autonomous mine ecosystems

Whether you're into robotics, autonomy, industrial innovation, or just love a great Pittsburgh success story, this conversation will change how you think about the future of mining.

The Pittsburgh Technology Council produces TechVibe to explore Pittsburgh's technology and innovation ecosystem.