Woof: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we embrace the dog days.
Yes, it’s that period of Summer when the warm weather stagnates, when cicadas serenade all afternoon long, when the looming specter of a new school year begins to haunt students (and teachers), when the notions of crisp air and comfy sweaters intrigue the senses. Ironically, we’re at the exact mathematical midpoint of the actual Summer season – not to mention this latest busy workweek, so let’s snap out of it and surge over these humps.
Planning to succeed: From civil engineers to mechanical engineers to software engineers, big thinkers take center stage today.
First degrees: Today is Aug. 6 and also surging forward is the first-ever National Finish Your Degree Day, kicking off an all-new annual celebration that encourages college dropouts to finish what they started.
It’s also Farmworker Appreciation Day, which salutes indispensable agricultural workers regardless of their education level – especially important when dealing with self-inflicted crises like these.
Graduate degrees: We’re also showing appreciation for designers, builders, programmers, mechanics, architects and so on – an essential part of the blueprint on Professional Engineers Day, a first-Wednesday-in-August machination detailing our respect for the technologists who keep the engines of ingenuity running.
To them – and to you, intrepid innovator, whatever your particular vocation – we raise this frosty glass and offer this heartfelt toast: Happy National Root Beer Float Day, a scoop of the high life melting sweetly every Aug. 6.
Shocking development: Speaking of mechanical innovations, one of history’s darker examples sparked to life on this date in 1890, when convicted axe murderer William Kemmler became the first death-row inmate sent to the electric chair.
Sights and sounds: More pleasant technological advances associated with Aug. 6 include the Vitaphone, AT&T’s breakthrough sound-film system, which made its public debut in 1926 in New York City, synchronizing sound effects and music to the silent-film classic “Don Juan.”
Shore thing: Sights came later, when it evolved into a long-running television hit – but there were pleasing sounds aplenty (and a cultural icon in the making) when “The Dinah Shore Show” debuted on NBC radio 86 years ago today.
The honeymoon’s over: Despite a portfolio of popular programming — including Jackie Gleason’s “Cavalcade of Stars,” the variety show that introduced the world to “The Honeymooners” — the DuMont Network shut down on Aug. 6, 1956.
Less of a sure thing: The sights and sounds of the DuMont Network ceased forever on this date in 1956, when the former powerhouse of American broadcasting innovation – undone by bad deals and a single-media focus – finally went dark.
Oops: And it was Aug. 6, 1964, when University of North Carolina graduate student Donald Currey and his team of chainsaw-wielding woodsmen accidentally cut down Prometheus, an ancient bristlecone pine growing in Nevada.
Nobody’s entirely sure how or why the U.S. Forest Service gave Currey et al permission to destroy the tree, which was estimated to be somewhere between 4,800 and 5,100 years old and may have been Earth’s oldest living organism.
We love her: American actress, comedian, producer and studio executive Lucille Désirée Ball (1911-1989) – who played the perfect screwball but was actually a stone-cold genius and one of the 20th Century’s most influential women, in the entertainment industry and beyond – would be 114 years old today.
You feel lucky, Punky?: Button-cute Soleil Moon Frye has leveraged childhood stardom into a lifetime of activism and creativity.
Also born on Aug. 6 were English poet Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892), Victorian Era 1st Baron and Britain’s longest-running poet laureate; American physician Andrew Taylor Still (1828-1917), the “Father of Osteopathy;” Scottish physician and microbiologist Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955), the Nobel Prize laureate who discovered penicillin; American artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol (born Andrew Warhola, 1928-1987), the Pop Art prince whose supposed disdain for the cultural elite propelled him to the heights of fame; and American computer scientist Jonathan Postel (1943-1998), who set the standards for Internet-related science.
Sitcom star, for starters: And take a bow, Soleil Moon Frye! The American actress, director, producer and screenwriter – who captured hearts as 1980s sitcom centerpiece “Punky Brewster” and has grown into an accomplished filmmaker, entrepreneur, blogger and author – turns 49 today.
Wish the former child star well at editor@innovateli.com, where we’re always over the Moon when you share news tips and calendar events.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Seventh dimension: Predicting “excellence across all dimensions,” Andrea Goldsmith has officially kicked off her ambitious term as Stony Brook University’s seventh president.
Lucky seventh: Stony Brook University’s multitalented new president has assumed her post.
Andrea Goldsmith officially began her tenure as Stony Brook’s seventh president Monday, six months after the State University of New York Board of Trustees introduced the president-elect. Goldsmith – who succeeds Interim President Richard McCormick, who took the reins after SBU President Maurie McInnis announced her resignation in May – brings decades of experience as a scientist, a university administrator and a tech-industry entrepreneur to her new role, which she described as an unprecedented opportunity to “advance Stony Brook’s excellence across all dimensions of education, research, innovation and clinical care.”
The chief exec will lead both the sprawling university and Stony Brook Medicine, including five health-sciences schools, three hospitals, a skilled nursing facility and 200-plus community-based healthcare locations. “Stony Brook University is a world-class flagship institution on a remarkable upward trajectory, educating the next generation of leaders and driving societal progress through groundbreaking research, economic development and innovation,” noted Stony Brook Council Chairman Kevin Law, who led SBU’s Presidential Search Committee. “[President Goldsmith] is the ideal leader to guide Stony Brook as it ascends to an even more prominent role in shaping the future of higher education.”
Upgrades arriving: A seven-figure stipend has landed at Farmingdale’s Republic Airport, nonstop from Albany’s AIR NY Aviation Capital Grant Program.
The New York State Department of Transportation program – designed to enhance safety, operations, environmental resilience and regional economic competitiveness at public-use airports – is throwing $25 million into capital improvements at 16 statewide aerodromes. That includes $2.5 million for a de-icing fluid containment system at Buffalo Niagara International Airport, $1.6 million for a maintenance-equipment building at Finger Lakes Regional Airport and $1.35 million for a geothermal heating and cooling system at Ithaca Tompkins International Airport.
It also includes $1.21 million for new snow-removal equipment and a much-needed fuel tank replacement at Republic Airport, approved in a biannual competitive-grant program that last awarded roughly $49 million to 36 public-use airports in 2023 (including $1 million for safety and electrification enhancements at “Long Island’s Executive Airport”). “These AIR NY investments will help ensure that our local communities are able to make important improvements in the safety, security and resilience of their airports,” noted New York State Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez. “In turn, they can serve as modern gateways, welcoming new businesses and opportunities that will enhance the long-term economic prosperity of each community.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Mental gymnastics: In his new memoir, respected Long Island thought leader (and part-time fitness warrior) Jeffrey Reynolds details his battle against two aggressive cancers – and reveals the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual benefits of intense triathlon training.
Pick a pod, any pod: New episodes of “Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast” arrive soon! First, catch a few classic one-on-ones with regional innovation-economy leaders. May we recommend Long Island’s savviest energy-industry veteran? Congressional politics’ last honest man? The “Mother of All Cops?” The “Father of Bioelectronic Medicine?” The small-business development veteran, perhaps, or the beloved Long Island journalist? You can’t miss – take your pick!
VOICES
It’s the Day of the Dead (Internet, that is) in David Chauvin’s latest socioeconomic study, in which the ZE Creative Communications executive VP and Media and Government anchor adapts to AI-powered search options – and urges all businesses, nonprofits and news outlets to do the same.
David’s key functions for remaining relevant in an evolving search-engine environment improve the results for our data-rich Voices Library, where orchestrators in leading-edge fields – technology, healthcare, law, social services, environmental science and more – reprogram thinking on today’s toughest socioeconomic input. Upload new understanding.
Something to say? Welcome to The Entrepreneur’s Edge, Innovate Long Island’s new promoted-content news feature platform – a direct link from you to our innovation-focused audience. Progressive product to promote? Singular service to sell? Sociopolitical position to push? Shine a bright light on the big picture, the little details and everything in between with The Entrepreneur’s Edge. Living on the edge.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Anxiety: Money concerns are driving more patients to seek professional help – but not from financial professionals. Salon theorizes about therapy.
Depression: Science proves that moderate aerobic exercise can reverse the effects of depression in children. Consumer Affairs works in workouts.
Recovery: Suicidal thoughts and behaviors among U.S. teens are declining, according to a new national survey. NPR hypes up hope.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Jeh Aerospace, a Georgia-based aerospace manufacturing startup, raised $11 million in Series A funding led by Elevation Capital and General Catalyst.
+ Grasshopper, a New York City-based digital bank, raised $46.6 million in funding led by Patriot Financial Partners LP and Glendon Capital Management.
+ Still Bright, a New Jersey-based tech developer focused on copper extraction, raised $18.7 million in Seed funding led by Material Impact and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
+ BioConsortia, a California-based sustainable agriculture innovator, raised $15 million in funding led by Otter Capital and affiliated funds.
+ Kinvard Bio, a North Carolina-based biotech developing broad-spectrum antibiotics, received $2.7 million in follow-on non-dilutive funding from CARB-X.
+ Solidec, a Texas-based clean chemical manufacturer, raised $2 million-plus in Pre-Seed funding led by New Climate Ventures.
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 New York Tech). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Watching The Detectives Edition)
We may never know: Only Hoffa — and maybe a few others — know what really happened.
Real deal: How to spot counterfeits when shopping online.
Upper crust: Following the scent with Italy’s undercover pizza detectives.
Unsolved mystery: Fifty years later, Jimmy Hoffa’s ultimate fate remains a riddle.
Ingenious solutions: Please continue supporting the innovative institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including the New York Institute of Technology, which follows every lead and examines every clue when chasing down each student’s best potential. Check them out.
