DC daily roundup: Esports at Maryland rec center; High schoolers’ brain algorithm; Power data centers with coal?

Baltimore esports lounge opens in rec center

The parks department’s director and chief technology officer discussed the just-launched E-Sports Lab at Medfield Recreation Center with my colleague Alanah Nichole Davis. Mayor Brandon Scott called the new space  a “technological sanctuary.”

“Baltimore should have access to recreation spaces that are equipped with high-quality, state-of-the-art things that actually meet their needs,” the mayor said.

➡️ Learn more about the new gaming facility in Alanah’s story here

The women leading Vanguard’s IT services

It’s still not easy to be a woman leader in IT, but Vanguard has been working to empower its female workforce. Not an empty claim — the women at the top testify to it.

“Vanguard is very unique from an employee perspective, in that we believe in the significance of balance,” said Jennifer Manry, Vanguard head of corporate systems. “It is manifested in just about every aspect of what I experience on a day-to-day basis. We all produce hard and meaningful work that we’re passionate about, but the company supports us as humans, too.”

➡️ Learn about Manry’s and two of her colleagues’ career journeys in this sponsored article

News Incubator: What else to know today

• Students at Chantilly High School developed an algorithm for classifying brain signals. [WTOP]

• Data centers in Virginia are using an increasingly high amount of electricity. So much so that coal-powered electricity plants will need to keep running keep up with demand, which thwarts clean energy goals. [Washington Post]

• Amazon is far behind its goal of adding thousands of new jobs at its Northern Virginia headquarters by the end of the decade. Instead, it eliminated hundreds of positions in Arlington in 2023. [Washington Post]

• The US AI Safety Institute, housed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, expanded its leadership team. [Dept. of Commerce/Technical.ly]

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