About us
ACM Youngstown is a non-profit professional group that meets regularly to discuss diverse topics in computer science such as virtual reality, game development, predictive analytics, applied machine learning, statistical modeling, open data, data visualization, user experience, user research, and artificial neural networks. Meeting topics are varied and range from tutorials on basic concepts and their applications, to success stories from local practitioners and academic students, to discussions of tools, new technologies, and best practices. All are welcome to attend, to meet others, and to present their work.
ACM Youngstown is powered by the NEO ACM Professional chapter (http://www.neoacm.org) and ACM Local (http://local.acm.org) at Association for Computing Machinery, Inc.
Upcoming events
1
The Impact of Hyperscale Data Centers in Our Community
·OnlineOnline"ARE DATA CENTERS GOOD ECONOMICS"?
REMOTE PRESENTATION AND BOOK GIVEAWAY!!"The Impact of Hyperscale Data Centers in Our Community" will be an online virtual presentation to enlighten our community about this topic. We will discuss the economic impact of data centers in Northeast Ohio with Dr. AJ Sumell, YSU Economics Professor. The proposed economic benefits in Northeast Ohio include:
• Massive capital investments by tech companies,
• Hundreds of short-term and permanent jobs,
• Billions in broader economic activity and state tax revenues,
• Major utility grid upgrades.But these benefits may not materialize after billions of dollars in investment and the sacrifice of prime real estate that could be used for housing developments in communities.
These “benefits” compete with the technology's “volatility,” such as Chinese “open weight,” as well as open-source models that now perform better than Western models. Green data centers are also an approach to high-performance computing without the need for hyperscaling. We are also seeing “volatility” in private equity firms that fund these centers, with some projects indefinitely postponed, scaled down, or canceled altogether. Are Data centers worth the gamble of decimating our quality of life, infrastructure, and economic future?
This event will take place on August 22, 2026, from 2:00-3:30 EDT. This event will be a 60-minute remote presentation, followed by 30 minutes of Q&A. When you RSVP, the credentials will be emailed to you: https://tinyurl.com/hn9t44en
BOOK GIVEAWAY:
You may also win the best selling book "EMPIRE OF AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI", a non-fiction book by award-winning journalist Karen Hao if you attend this remote presentation!!Hope you can join this important discussion!
DR. AJ SUMELL'S BIO
Dr. AJ Sumell is a professor of economics at Youngstown State University. He joined the faculty in 2005 after earning a Ph.D. in Economics from Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. He has authored or co-authored 15 academic publications, presented at more than 40 academic conferences, and given invited talks. He has been interviewed by local, national, and international media more than 100 times. AJ currently serves as chief negotiator for YSU's faculty union, YSU-OEA. He serves on the boards of CASTLO Community Improvement Corporation and Thrive Mahoning Valley, and is President of the Board of Trustees for the Montessori School of Mahoning Valley.
Outside of his professional work, AJ enjoys coaching youth soccer, playing tennis, and racing through rounds of Mario Kart with his daughters, Scarlett Marie and Lillian Rose.
Regarding data centers, Dr. Sumell has been a critical voice on the rapid expansion of AI and cloud data centers in Ohio. Specializing in urban and environmental economics, Dr. Sumell has advised local governments on the steep trade-offs between short-term economic development and the long-term strains these facilities place on communities, such as projects on former industrial sites in McDonald and Lordstown. He was invited to address the members of Boardman Township’s zoning commission to educate them about what data centers are and the external impacts associated with them. He has also been interviewed by local news outlets.
6 attendees
Past events
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