Midweek crisis: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we power through another work-from-home workweek during the great coronavirus calamity.
Creative expression: Beauty to behold on World Art Day,
It’s April 15 out there, and no, it’s not Tax Day. But it is the Universal Day of Culture – celebrating a post-World War I international treaty protecting scientific institutions and historical monuments from war and other craziness, and World Art Day, a global celebration of the finer things.
Loads of fun: It’s also National Laundry Day, which kinda feels like every day these days.
Soap floats: Speaking of clean living, well before he partnered with fellow innovator Norris Gamble, inventor Harley Procter slipped Ivory Soap onto retailers’ shelves for the first time on April 15, 1878.
Let there be light: The merger of an 1890 Thomas Edison startup and the Thomson-Houston Electric Co. on this date in 1892 created what is arguably America’s most recognized multinational conglomerate, Boston-based General Electric.
On your marks: Chicago-based publisher Rand McNally rolled out its first-ever road atlas on April 15, 1924.
Other historic publications debuting on this date include Samuel Johnson’s 1755 “A Dictionary of the English Language,” still revered for quantum leaps in lexicology.
Barrier grief: The heroic Robinson endured racist jeers and death threats.
Literal game-changer: The first African American to play Major League Baseball stepped up to the plate on April 15, 1947, when Jackie Robinson suited up for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
While MLB players traditionally share Robinson’s universally retired uniform number 42 in all games played on April 15 (since 1997), the coronavirus has eaten that touching tribute this season – though the league isn’t letting the heroic date pass without notice.
Up and under: And it was this date in 1964 when the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, a direct link between Southeastern Virginia and the Delmarva Peninsula (combining Delaware with Maryland and Virginia’s Eastern Shore counties), first opened to traffic.
Still the world’s largest bridge-tunnel combo, the sprawling over- and underwater complex cuts 95 miles off the journey between Virginia Beach and Wilmington, Del.
Sikh, and ye shall find: Guru Nanak (1469-1539) – a.k.a. Baba Nanak, the founder of Sikhism and the first of the 10 Sikh Gurus – would be 551 years old today.
Good point: Williams, as lethal assassin Arya Stark.
Also born on April 15 (and romping around the latter stages of the Renaissance) was radical Italian thinker Leonardo di ser Piero (1452-1519), known best by the nome di viaggio Leonardo da Vinci; Mary Harris Thompson (1829-1895), founder of the Chicago Hospital for Women and Children and among this nation’s first female surgeons; Indonesian microelectronics engineer Samaun Samadikun (1931-2006), the influential cofounder of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences; and English actress Emma Watson (born 1990), one of Harry Potter’s best pals.
Stark contrast: And take a bow, Maisie Williams – the Emmy Award-winning English thespian and tech-focused Internet entrepreneur turns 23 today.
Wish the deadliest Stark, the bewitching Hermione and all the other April 15 innovators well at editor@innovateli.com. And remember, story tips and calendar suggestions always raise our spirits … Wingardium Leviosa!
About our sponsor: Sahn Ward Coschignano is one of the region’s most highly regarded and recognized law firms. Our attorneys are thought leaders, dedicated to achieving success through excellence. With our broad experience in land use, development, litigation, real estate, corporate and environmental law, we have the vision and knowledge to serve our clients and our communities. Please visit http://www.swc-law.com/.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Mall in the family: Shopping centers are virtual ghost towns right now, but one property manager known for its malls on Long Island and beyond is keeping busy – and helping to keep some of society’s most vulnerable engaged and healthy during the great 2020 pandemic.
Long Island shopping centers operating under the flag of the California-based Westfield Group have joined up with #WestfieldCares, a national giving program designed to support organizations confronting COVID-19 head-on. With specific attention paid to “vulnerable populations in our community,” East Massapequa’s Westfield Sunrise (“Sunrise Mall” to many) and Bay Shore’s Westfield South Shore – known collectively as Westfield Shopping Centers-Long Island – are supporting the Huntington-based Family Service League of Long Island with donations including gift cards for FSL staff, laptops (key to several therapy programs, now operating remotely) and board games for league-run shelters.
The regional donation effort “is intended to help drive awareness and additional donations for nonprofits that serve groups such as [the homeless] and economically disadvantaged families, seniors and children,” according to a statement from Westfield Shopping Centers-Long Island, and to “thank first responders and medical professionals who are putting themselves in harm’s way each day.”
Sensors and sensibility: Dong has collected numerous academic honors and more than $3 million in research grants.
The Dong show: Add another honorific (and another handsome honorarium) to the impressive collection gathered by New York Institute of Technology Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Ziqian Dong, who’s snagged a prestigious Curtis W. McGraw Research Award from the American Society for Engineering Education.
Dong – who was selected for the annual award for her innovative work in assistive medical devices and advanced communication and sensor networks – has enjoyed an impressive career marked by numerous academic honors and more than $3 million in grants from the National Science Foundation, Northrop Grumman and other private and commercial sources, covering a wide range of educational and research initiatives.
The McGraw Research Award, sponsored by the ASEE’s Engineering Research Council and the New York City-based McGraw-Hill Book Company, offers a relatively lean prize – just $1,500, plus travel expenses to attend last month’s pre-lockdown ASEE Research Leadership Institute in Virginia. But the distinction is grand, according to Dong, who is “[honored] to be selected for this award” and “humbled and very appreciative to have the privilege to be surrounded by wonderful colleagues, students and the support I have had over the years to establish an undergraduate research and entrepreneurship culture.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Tours de force: With COVID-19 compounding already-difficult college selections, LI universities are reaching out (virtually) to high school seniors.
No time to waste: Nassau County’s economic-development officials are videoconferencing their way through a busy spring slate.
Identity, crisis: It’s ongoing repurposing strategy slowed its second quarter, but tool-and-supply distributor MSC Industrial is more focused now on surviving the pandemic.
INNOVATION IN THE AGE OF CORONAVIRUS
Tax breaks for Suffolk County PPE manufacturers, resources for restaurateurs and regional tourism takes it like a champ – all that and more in Innovate LI’s exclusive, Island-flavored Pandemic Primer.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Follow the leader: Rolling Stone replays the devastating dysfunction of the federal government’s coronavirus response.
Knowledge is power: Time Magazine piles the latest data and most thorough understanding of COVID-19 into the mother of all pandemic FAQs.
On the bright side: Amid rising death tolls and freefalling economies, Forbes sees a silver lining – the coronavirus will absolutely innovate healthcare (and already has).
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ i2O Therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based biotech developing a platform for oral delivery of traditionally injectable biological drugs, raised $4 million in seed funding led by Sanofi Ventures and JDRF T1D Fund.
+ NextStep, a Washington State-based crisis-skills training and job-placement company aimed at certifying nursing assistants, raised $3.6 million in funding. Backers included Springrock Ventures, Jazz Venture Partners, Learn Capital’s LearnStart fund and the managing directors of Pioneer Square Labs.
+ Spot & Tango, a New York City-based direct-to-consumer pet health and wellness brand, raised $4.2 million in seed funding. The round was led by Guild Capital.
+ Lionrock Recovery, a California-based provider of telehealth services for substance abuse disorders, raised $7 million in funding. Backers included Wasserstein Family Trust and Big Spruce Holdings.
+ IFM Restoration, a Texas-based online marketplace that connects contractors with owners and managers of rental properties, closed a $10 million Series A funding round co-led by S3 Ventures and Brick & Mortar Ventures.
+ Darmiyan Inc., a California-based developer of brain diagnostics, raised $6 million in the initial closing of a seed funding round led by Eisai, with participation from IT-Farm and Y-Combinator.
BELOW THE FOLD
Thinly veiled: But well-protected.
The good: Congratulations NYSERDA, an EPA Energy Star Partner of the Year (once again).
The bad: Shame on you, non-social-distancers, for making it so much worse.
The never ugly: Remaining fashionably face-masked in the Age of Coronavirus.
Saddle up: Please continue supporting the amazing firms that support Innovate LI – including Sahn Ward Coschignano, riding to clients’ rescue during the pandemic and always. Check them out.
