TechVibe Pittsburgh

Nina Marie Barbuto, founder of Assemble in Pittsburgh's Garfield neighborhood, joins TechVibe this Sunday to celebrate 15 years of building community through arts, technology, and hands-on maker education. What started with a backpack and a bicycle has grown into an organization that has impacted over 107,000 people — including more than 30,000 youth — through STEM and STEAM programs rooted in culturally relevant, project-based learning.

Nina shares the story of Assemble's evolution from an all-volunteer effort to a generational force in Pittsburgh's tech ecosystem, the ripple effects of empowering kids to build, create, and dream, and details for the upcoming Unicornapalooza celebration on September 19th — featuring carnival games, flash unicorn tattoos, the first-ever Unicorny Awards honoring community champions, and costumes strongly encouraged.

Featuring honorees Gregg Behr of the Grable Foundation, Representative La' Tasha Mayes for her work passing the CROWN Act in Pennsylvania, community maker Miss Junyetta Seale, and Assemble's own Jess Gold. Learn more and get tickets at assemblepgh.org.

The processors inside modern data centers are becoming more powerful, more dense and a whole lot hotter. Keeping them running requires an entirely new generation of power and cooling infrastructure.

Chris Massetti of Donwil joins Empire of Lights to explain what happens between the electrical grid and the silicon, and why Donwil's mission-critical expertise has suddenly landed the company in the middle of one of the fastest-growing industries in the world.

Hit play to learn how closed-loop liquid cooling can dramatically reduce water consumption, how modern systems move heat directly away from powerful GPUs, and why Donwil's power modules help smooth the wildly fluctuating electrical loads created by AI computing. Massetti also explores the rapid move toward prefabricated and modular infrastructure, the growing demand for skilled technicians and why having compute located closer to Pittsburgh could become increasingly important for healthcare, research and other AI-intensive industries.

It's a surprisingly accessible trip inside the powertrain and cooling system of the modern AI factory.

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

Is AI more than just chatbots — and are you leaving serious business value on the table by thinking it isn't?

Jonathan Kersting hosts TechVibe from the Pittsburgh Technology Council, sitting down with EY's Natalie Freedline and Aaron Rakes for a high-energy conversation about the real-world AI revolution happening right now in business.

Why you should hit play:

• The human side of AI — Why your people aren't being replaced, they're being redeployed, and the new skills every professional needs to stay relevant (hint: it's not coding, it's interrogation).

• AI beyond the chat box — Discover the "seven layers of the cake" and why chat is just one of them. Autonomous agents are already traversing ERPs, CRMs, and email systems — and they don't take coffee breaks.

• The security wake-up call — Non-human identities, silent segregation of duties, and why governance isn't optional when your agents have access to everything.

• Pittsburgh's AI moment — From $100 million in startup investments to local powerhouses like GreenCabbage and Gather AI, the Steel City is quietly becoming an AI stronghold.

• The "just start" philosophy — Why waiting for perfect data, perfect documentation, or the perfect tech stack is the most expensive mistake you can make right now.

Whether you're an AI skeptic, a business leader trying to see real ROI, or just curious about where this technology is heading, this conversation will change how you think about what's possible.

TechVibe is your front-row seat to all things innovation and tech across the Pittsburgh region. Press play and get ahead of the curve.

Turns out, quite a lot.

Marshall Sorensen of Metromont joins Empire of Lights to take us deep into one of the most overlooked parts of the data center supply chain: the concrete structures that have to be designed, manufactured and assembled before a single server can go online.

Hit play to learn how precast construction can dramatically accelerate data center projects, why eliminating a single structural column can create enormous economic value, and how Metromont's test-fit process helps developers find expensive problems before construction begins. Sorensen also explains why early collaboration, site logistics and offsite manufacturing are becoming increasingly important as data center customers demand bigger campuses on tighter schedules.

If you've ever wondered what physically holds up the cloud, this episode gets wonderfully concrete.

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

What happens when an accountant gets frustrated enough with clunky software to build something better?

You get SoftLedger.

This week on TechVibe, we sit down with co-founder Ben Taylor to talk about how a problem he experienced firsthand turned into a growing fintech company.

Ben and his co-founder started by sketching out ideas on printer paper. Then came the hard part: thousands of cold emails, plenty of rejection and the long process of winning that first customer. From there, SoftLedger steadily grew into a platform serving companies that have outgrown QuickBooks but don't want the cost and complexity of a giant ERP system. Today, SoftLedger is growing its team in Pittsburgh, expanding downtown and putting AI to work across accounting, reporting and software development. Ben also talks about why Pittsburgh has become such a strong home base for the company. It's a fun conversation about spotting a real problem, sticking with the solution and building something people actually need.

Hit play and meet one of Pittsburgh's growing fintech companies on this week's TechVibe.

TechVibe is produced by the Pittsburgh Technology Council to showcase Pittsburgh's technology and innovation ecosystem.

In this PaceSetters episode from the Pittsburgh Technology Council and TechVibe, host Jonathan Kersting talks with Jodie Gosselin of Woolpert, a geospatial-focused architecture and engineering firm founded in 1911, about Woolpert's growth in Pittsburgh following the Dawood Engineering acquisition and its global GIS organization.

Gosselin explains what GIS (geographic information systems) is, how it adds geographic context to data, and how it's applied to real-world problems like indoor wayfinding for airports and network modeling for utilities, including scenario planning and customer impact analysis. She describes how AI is being used to clean and compare data, support system integrations, and enable readiness for digital twins, and highlights a GIS + AI hackathon with Esri. Gosselin also shares her career path into geography and her efforts to teach GIS to kids, including GIS Day classroom lessons and education initiatives.

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

Data centers are bringing billions of dollars in investment to Pennsylvania, but what does responsible development actually look like?

On this episode of Empire of Lights, Brian Regli of Dynamo takes us inside the company's planned data center development in Springdale and explains why transparency, community engagement and accountability have to be part of the process from day one.

Hit play to hear how Dynamo is approaching concerns around power, water and noise, why Regli believes developers must acknowledge the problems they help create, and how closed-loop cooling, third-party verification and local hiring can help establish a better model for development. He also explains why the industry needs to stop simply telling communities that data centers are good for them and start listening to what those communities actually need.

It's a candid conversation about building the infrastructure of the digital economy while building trust at the same time.

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

In this TechVibe PaceSetters episode from Huntington Bank Studios, Jonathan Kersting talks with VSP Vision leaders Emily Traupman and Kathleen (Kat) Lovett about how VSP—one of the nation's largest eye healthcare providers serving 80+ million members with 42,000+ private practice doctors and 700+ retail locations—uses technology to expand access to care and improve efficiency. Traupman shares how VSP applies UiPath robotic process automation and generative AI to automate repetitive work, testing, and test-script/data creation, and explores AI agents to further reduce manual effort.

Lovett highlights Eyefinity practice management software, insurance/pre-authorization workflows, and AI Scribe to capture clinical notes so doctors can focus on patients, along with AI tools to help sales reps and AI-driven frame assortment, virtual try-on, and inventory optimization, including collaboration with Carnegie Mellon. They also discuss retinal imaging for broader health insights and VSP's mobile clinic providing free eye exams and glasses in Pittsburgh.

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

Across Western Pennsylvania, former power plants, steel mills and industrial sites still contain valuable infrastructure that was built decades ago. Kenneth Birkenstock of Nittany Digital Infrastructure believes those assets could play an important role in the region's digital future.

On this episode of Empire of Lights, Birkenstock explains the concept of stranded infrastructure and why reusing existing industrial sites can make more sense than developing farmland or previously untouched property.

Hit play to hear why NDI starts with community conversations before development begins, why Birkenstock says transparency is an obligation for developers, and why expectations around noise, water, power and infrastructure should be clearly defined and put in writing. He also explores how data center investment could become the first domino in broader community revitalization, creating opportunities for skilled trades, manufacturing and additional development.

It's a fascinating look at how old infrastructure could find an entirely new purpose.

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

Jonathan Kersting interviews Matt Beale of Daedalus on TechVibe's PaceSetter series about the Pittsburgh-based industrial design and product development firm's nearly 50-year history and evolving, multidisciplinary approach. Beale explains Daedalus' work across robotics, energy, healthcare, medical devices, and safety, and how the team shifted to include more engineers than designers as projects require full execution from concept to done.

He recounts roots tied to Westinghouse-era companies and long-running client relationships including Medrad (now Bayer), Automated Healthcare (now Omnicell), Fresenius Kabi (formerly Renal Solutions), and Industrial Scientific. Beale describes how Daedalus plugs into client teams, supports startups from programs like AlphaLab Health and Robotics Factory, leverages university expertise when needed, and increasingly uses AI and machine learning while protecting confidentiality and preventing errors.

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