Winter break: Welcome to Friday, intrepid innovators … you’ve plowed through Long Island’s first truly wintry workweek of the Winter of 2024 and earned yourself a restful, rejuvenating weekend – sans storms, Super Bowls or other serious stressors.
Before we pull off our snow boots and put up our feet, just one more workday to get through. Here’s a snappy innovation review to help you warm up.
Filet away: Missing meat? Thank God it’s Friday Fish Fry Day.
It’s kind of our thing: It’s Feb. 16 out there, and no innovation review on this date would be complete without heralding National Innovation Day, when everything Innovate Long Island works for and believes in takes center stage.
Fish food: It’s also the first Friday of Lent – the solemn Christian season of prayer and fasting that kicked off with Wednesday’s Ash Wednesday observance – and abstinence, among Christianity’s oldest cornerstones, sets the tone.
For followers, that means no meat. And so, our daily menu serves up Friday Fish Fry Day and National Tartar Sauce Day, a tasty annual combo worthy of all faiths.
Nothing to sneeze at: Speaking of Christian traditions, Pope Gregory I – the same busy pontiff who gave us the modern calendar we all live by – decreed that “God bless you” was the proper response to a sneeze (all about warding off the plague or some such) 1,424 years ago today.
Wagon train: Slightly less successful were Studebaker cars and trucks, which ended production in 1966 – still a pretty good run for the descendants of Henry and Clement Studebaker, the brothers who opened a blacksmith shop on this date in 1852 in South Bend, Ind., specializing in horse-drawn wagons and carriages.
Mint condition: The 1878 Morgan Silver Dollars were among the first silver dollars minted in the United States.
Silver streak: Also enjoying a relatively brief run were U.S. silver dollars, which were legalized by Congress on Feb. 16, 1878. (The United States stopped minting silver coins in 1970, for those keeping score.)
Nylon curtain: Much more successful was nylon, the undisputed champion of synthetic fabrics, patented on this date in 1937 by DuPont chemist Wallace Carothers.
In case of emergency: And it was Feb. 16, 1968, when the national 9-1-1 emergency-call system was tested for the first time in Haleyville, Ala.
By the end of the 20th Century, nearly 93 percent of the U.S. population was covered by a 9-1-1 service.
Smooth operator: American machinist, inventor, engineer and automotive entrepreneur Henry Martin Leland (1843-1932) – a luxury-loving all-time great who founded both the Cadillac and Lincoln brands – would be 181 years old today.
Ice, Ice baby: The brooding rapper went from “Cop Killer” to playing Det. Odafin “Fin” Tutuola on “Law and Order: SVU.”
Also born on Feb. 16 were English explorer, anthropologist and pioneering eugenicist Francis Galton (1822-1911), a big fan of selective parenting; American innovator Mary Outerbridge (1852-1886), the “mother of American tennis”; American singer, songwriter, actor and politician Salvatore Phillip “Sonny” Bono (1935-1998), a two-term U.S. Congressman known first (and best) as Cher’s better half; American actor, director and television host LeVar Burton (born 1957), who made a splash as “Roots” protagonist Kunta Kinte, explored the galaxy as “Star Trek” engineer Geordi LaForge and is now taking the fight to book-banners; and American rapper and actor Tracy Lauren Marrow (born 1958), the famous gangsta-turned-TV cop “Ice-T.”
Icahn believe he’s still at it: And take a bow, Carl Celian Icahn! The Queens-born American businessman, investor and philanthropist – a famed corporate raider who 40 years ago stripped Trans World Airlines to spare parts to pay off his debts, and has now swooped in on Jet Blue – turns 88 today.
Give the 147th richest American – as per last year’s Forbes 400 list – your best at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips are our most valuable assets and your calendar events are as good as gold.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Healthy distractions: One of Long Island’s leading medical schools has added some fun and games to its topnotch healthcare education.
As part of their Humanities in Medicine Scholarly Concentration, a group of second-year Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell students participated Feb. 9 in a creative visual-thinking activity at the Hofstra University Museum of Art, observing artworks in the museum’s “Les Visionnaires: In the Modernist Spirit” exhibition and debating their potential meanings. That was followed by ZonoSlam, a unique showcase of technical prowess, hand-eye coordination and sensory abilities, all essential for proficiency with ultrasound technologies.
Billed as the Zucker School’s “inaugural Ultrasound Olympics,” the Feb. 10 competition attracted 80-plus students from regional medical schools and highlighted the “fantastic educational product” offered by the Hofstra/Northwell facility, according to ZonoSlam faculty advisor David Teng. “The students are the brain trust of all of this,” noted Teng, a pediatric emergency-medicine attending physician at Cohen Children’s Medical Center and Zucker School assistant professor of pediatrics. “ZonoSlam showcased our medical students’ technical proficiency and underscored their dedication to advancing medical education and patient care.”
Deep dive: SUNY Old Westbury professors Samara Smith (left) and Laura Chipley are exploring the history of New York Harbor.
Harbor patrol: The National Endowment for the Humanities is backing SUNY Old Westbury’s “Virtual Aquapolis” – once again.
Initially funded by the NEH back in 2021, the immersive virtual reality project – which dives deep into the diverse New York Harbor ecosystem and its complex relationship with the massive cityscape above – has earned a fresh $100,000 grant from the independent federal agency, a branch of the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities focused on research and preservation. That first $30,000 grant helped Associate Professors Laura Chipley and Samara Smith of SUNY Old Westbury’s American Studies/Media & Communications Department plan the project; the new stipend will fund the buildout of actual VR scenes exploring the harbor’s past, present and future.
The unique project is “worthy of [NEH] recognition,” according to SUNY Old Westbury School of Arts and Sciences Dean Cheryl Wilson. “It explores not only a physical underwater ecosystem, but its relation to the human beliefs, knowledge and values in the city above it,” Wilson noted. “It’s a ‘virtual’ realization of how human culture can impact the elements.”
TOP OF THE SITE
New school of thought: Northwell Health is uniting with philanthropical and educational partners to prepare high schoolers for immediate healthcare-industry employment.
Newsletter subscribers wanted: You know how you watch your favorite YouTube videos, and the makers ask you to “like” and subscribe to their channels? It’s similar to that – with big benefits for your business. Always easy, always free.
ICYMI
A Long Island-based robotics ace has teamed with Con Edison to develop a cutting-edge Cable Splicing Machine that can bolster power-grid resilience while improving worker safety.
BEST OF THE WEST (AND SOMETIMES NORTH/SOUTH)
Innovate LI’s inbox overrunneth with inspirational innovations from all North American corners. This week’s brightest out-of-towners:
From California: San Jose-based customer-onboarding ace Rocketlane streamlines recurring client projects with cutting-edge Rocketlane Subscriptions.
From Texas: Dallas-based digital-therapeutics innovator Mynd Immersive teams with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs on virtual-reality project for aging Vietnam veterans.
From California: Los Angeles-based cannabis lifestyle brand Sunderstorm rolls out doctor-designed edibles to promote energy, love and better sleep.
ON THE MOVE
Keith Gurnick
+ Keith Gurnick has been hired as director of architecture and construction administration at Melville-based Nelson + Pope. He was architectural director of operations at Bohemia-based National Fire & Safety Solutions.
+ Brendan Nelson has been appointed vice chairman of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants Government Accounting and Auditing Committee. He is a partner at Islandia-based R.S. Abrams & Co.
+ Marc Hamroff has been promoted to chairman of Garden City-based Moritt Hock & Hamroff. He was a managing partner.
+ Vanessa Baird-Streeter has been hired as president and chief executive of the Huntington Station-based Health & Welfare Council of Long Island. She previously served as Suffolk County deputy executive.
+ Ellen Labita has been appointed to the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee. She is partner and professional practice leader for Baker Tilly’s Long Island-based not-for profit and healthcare practices.
+ The newly formed Queens County Criminal Bar Association has elected its first Board of Directors and Executive Committee:
- Richard Sikes, a principal attorney in the NYS Unified Court System, is president.
- Seth Koslow, a criminal defense attorney at the Law Offices of Jeffrey D. Cohen, is executive vice president.
- Lisa Lin, a supervising court attorney in the NYS Unified Court System, is vice president of membership.
- Jennifer Saint-Preux, a principal attorney in the NYS Unified Court System, is vice president of programs.
- Nicole Rella, an assistant district attorney in the Queens County District Attorney’s Office, is vice president of marketing.
- Felipe Garcia, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society, is secretary.
- Jeffrey Cohen (private attorney), Uchenna Emeagwali (Legal Aid Society), Karan Kukreja (private attorney), Anthony Martone (private attorney) and Matthew Powers (Queens ADA) are board members.
- Michael Yavinsky, criminal court justice, is judicial advisor.
Like this newsletter? Innovate Long Island newsletter, website and podcast sponsorships are a prime opportunity to reach the inventors, investors, entrepreneurs and executives you need to know (just ask Brandtelling). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (What’s It Worth To You Edition)
Extra large: The band stopped touring 30 years ago — but the value of Grateful Dead T-shirts only increases.
Not fade away: What economists can learn from Grateful Dead T-shirts.
Location, location, color of your skin: How race affects home values.
Bottom line: Why some employees choose happiness over pay raises.
Worth every penny: Please continue supporting the amazing agencies that support Innovate Long Island, including Brandtelling, where you don’t have to spend a fortune to craft a winning brand story for your business. Check them out.
