Are those bells we hear? Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we reach the midpoint of the year’s fifth month – and kick off an exciting countdown for your faithful newsletter scribe.
With that, this quick scheduling note: Your thrice-weekly Innovate Long Island Newsletter will arrive as expected straight through May 22, before we take a few days off to celebrate Memorial Day weekend – and the nuptials of your old pal Z. Yes, knots will be tied before we’re back on the beat May 29 … more reminders through next Wednesday.
Modern problems: Families come in all shapes and sizes … but the bonds remain the same.
Make love, not war: Today is May 15 and speaking of love and its many powerful mysteries, we proudly present the International Day of Families, the UN’s annual spotlight on the important role of ever-evolving family units, with a different socioeconomic issue highlighted each year. (For 2024, the emphasis is on climate change.)
Other global observances marking the date include International Conscientious Objection Day, honoring those who refuse to bear arms and make war.
Equal parts: Here in the States, we also embrace the relatively new Break the Glass Ceiling Day, referencing a World Economic Forum 2021 Global Gender Gap Report that estimated an average of 135.6 years for women to match men on a number of critical factors – hence, the 135th-day-of-the-year reflection.
And if you think historically underpaid women have chips on their shoulders, watch out for National Chocolate Chip Day, inviting everyone to indulge (equally) in morsels of wisdom every May 15.
Star-Lord: Chipping in some timeless wisdom on this date in 1618 was German astronomer Johannes Kepler, who formulated the mathematical rule of Solar System planetary orbits – immortalized as Kepler’s Third Law of Planetary Motion.
War machine: Long before Gatling gunned it, there was Englishman James Puckle, who patented the world’s first machine gun – capable of firing a then-astonishing nine rounds per minute, with different ammo for use against Christians and Muslims – on May 15, 1718.
Avengers: With co-founders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony – the organization’s first president – at the helm, the National Woman Suffrage Association assembled on this date in 1869.
Taking flight: Both Mickey and Minnie bowed in “Plane Crazy.”
Mighty Mouse: Happy birthday, Mickey Mouse! The rodent that roared – now the ultimate symbol of the mighty Walt Disney Co. – debuted on May 15, 1928, in a Hollywood test screening of the cartoon short “Plane Crazy.” (Flesh-and-blood birthdays below.)
Wonder Woman: And it was one year ago today when 81-year-old Martha Stewart graced the cover of Sports Illustrated’s annual Swimsuit Edition.
The octogenarian became the oldest cover model in the history of the annual edition, dethroning Elon Musk’s mother Maye Musk, who was 74 when she appeared as one of four cover models in 2022.
Some kind of wonderful: American author Frank L. Baum (1856-1919) – a prolific writer who penned 42 novels, 83 short stories, 200-plus poems and dozens of screenplays, but is remembered best for creating “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” – would be 168 years old today.
Immigration worker: Born in Czechoslovakia, Albright fled Nazi and later Soviet occupations before thriving in the United States.
Also born on May 15 were Scottish American astronomer Williamina Fleming (1857-1911), who catalogued more than 10,000 stars and discovered the Horsehead Nebula; English inventor, politician and businessman Frank Hornby (1863-1936), an esteemed toymaker most famous for Hornby Model Railways; German Peruvian mathematician and archeologist Maria Reiche (1903-1998), the self-appointed protector of Peru’s famous Nazca Lines; American entertainer and peace activist Hugh Nanton Romney Jr. (born 1936), the Hippie icon known best as Wavy Gravy; and American diplomat and political scientist Madeleine Albright (1937-2022), the first woman U.S. secretary of state.
You can only hope to contain him: And take a bow, Dan Patrick (born Daniel Patrick Pugh)! The American sportscaster, radio personality and actor – who gained fame as a catchphrase-addicted “SportsCenter” anchor and currently hosts his own radio/streaming show, in addition to part-time writing gigs with various sports magazines – turns 67 today.
Wish the awesome announcer well at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips are en fuego and your calendar events find nothing but the bottom of the net. (Goodbye. Game over. Drive home safely.)
About our sponsor: Northwell Health is New York’s largest healthcare provider and private employer, with 21 hospitals, 900 outpatient facilities and 85,000 employees. We’re making research breakthroughs at the Feinstein Institutes and training the next generation of medical professionals at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. Visit Northwell.edu.
BUT FIRST, THIS
It’s on: From the Tried and True File come two of Albany’s most successful – and lucrative – competitive economic-development programs.
Offering $445 million in capital grants and tax credits and a wide range of state programmatic support, Round 14 of the Regional Economic Development Council Initiative is now underway. The parameters have changed since then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo launched the annual program in 2010, but the basics are intact: Ten statewide regional councils – including the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council, under the steady hand of Regional Director Cara Longworth – accept applications from universities, governments and private industry, then assemble a package with the best chance of earning the thickest slice of REDC pie.
Also initiated this week is Round Six of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority’s Commercial and Industrial Carbon Challenge, offering a $10 million prize package for plans to reduce carbon emissions at manufacturing operations, healthcare facilities, office buildings and colleges and universities. Individual NYSERDA awards ranging from $500,000 to $3.75 million will support projects reducing at least 25,000 metric tons of “carbon dioxide equivalent” over their project lifetime.
Schedules to keep: Long Island colleges are jumping on SUNY-sponsored efforts to help students earn their degrees without delay.
On time: Three Long Island colleges are now participating in State University of New York programs aimed at helping students complete their degree journeys as scheduled.
Both Nassau Community College and Suffolk County Community College are registered participants of SUNY’s Advancing Success in Associate Pathways program, which models itself after evidence-based practices designed to remove financial barriers, narrow “opportunity gaps” between populations and otherwise support students en route to achieving their associate’s degrees. Farmingdale State College, meanwhile, is part of SUNY’s Advancing Completion Through Engagement program, ASAP’s baccalaureate-level counterpart.
Both ASAP and ACE are modeled after City University of New York programs that have assisted more than 90,000 students – and been replicated in seven states – since launching in 2007. “Nassau Community College is continually looking for proactive initiatives to increase overall student outcomes and help students graduate on time,” noted NCC Interim Vice President of Academic Student Services Charmian Smith. “We are excited to join with SUNY and look forward to the benefits that our students will gain from this proven academic support program.”
TOP OF THE SITE
To Virginia (and beyond): The Stony Brook School’s rookie rocketry team has overcome multiple challenges to blast into the national finals of the American Rocketry Challenge.
Lessons learned: Who will you learn from today? Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast goes one-on-one with leading innovators – brilliant academicians, lawmakers, inventors, activists, entrepreneurs, artists and more – to understand their personal journeys and hear their best advice on today’s hot-button socioeconomic topics. Choose a teacher and get smarter now.
VOICES
Long Island Bio Executive Director and Voices Historian Tom Mariner catches up with Hicksville-based Designatronics, a decades-old champion of high-end engineering and manufacturing riding next-generation technologies – and an ongoing legacy of quality hires – into the amazing future of robotics.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Startup success: How “confident humility” triggers effective entrepreneurism. Forbes seeks balance.
Cash cows: Without hard numbers, how do we know “climate-friendly beef” really is? Vox cries “caveat emptor!”
Sayonara sedans: With the Chevy Malibu kaput, Detroit is all-in on SUVs – and may quickly regret it. Fast Co. deals with wheels.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Chip City Cookies, a NYC-based gourmet cookie chain, raised $7.5 million in Series B funding. Enlightened Hospitality Investments made the investment.
+ Roam, a New York City-based platform for assumable mortgages, raised $3 million in additional funding backed by Founders Fund.
+ Active Surfaces, a Massachusetts-based flexible solar panel pioneer spun out of MIT, raised $5.6 million in pre-seed funding led by Safar Partners.
+ Li Industries, a North Carolina-based developer of lithium-ion battery recycling technologies, raised $36 million in Series B funding led by Bosch Ventures, Khosla Ventures and LG Tech Ventures.
+ Mycocycle, an Illinois-based, woman-owned biotech focused on waste-to-value technologies, raised $3.6 million in funding led by Closed Loop Partners’ Ventures Group.
+ Backpack Healthcare, a Maryland-based online provider of pediatric mental healthcare, raised $14 million in Series A funding led by PACE Healthcare Capital.
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 Northwell Health). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Scratch An “Itch” Edition)
Toil and trouble: Can Ingersoll’s Tavern in Danvers, Mass., be saved?
Cosmic glitch: Einstein’s theory of relativity is suddenly a bit wonky.
Brew witch: The fight to save an historic tavern tied to the Salem Witch Trials.
Son of a &!+¢#: Tucker Carlson now swears Alex Jones is a supernatural prophet.
Sales pitch: Please continue supporting the incredible sponsors that support Innovate Long Island, including Northwell Health, where commercial success is always based on brilliant science and bottomless compassion. Check them out.
