Fit for a king: Welcome to Friday, intrepid innovators, as another Autumnal workweek reaches its colorful climax (have you noticed the foliage?) and the soggy storms that ravaged our region earlier this week fade into moist memory.
Sure, it’s chilly out there, but it is mid-October, and the weather prognosticators promise a full weekend of bright sunshine (the perfect conditions to check out a No Kings rally near you). Whether you’re marching or not, you’ve definitely earned this two-day blow – here’s an innovation-week-in-review to kick it off in royal style.
Bowled over: You really can’t miss on National Pasta Day.
Poverty line: Today is Oct. 17 and we begin with a nod to the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which reinforces the idea that ending global poverty is as much about dignity and social justice as income and savings plans.
Also invoking concepts like dignity, justice and especially self-esteem is Forgive an Ex Day, when we’re encouraged to remember the good times – and reminded that true healing is always hampered by resentful grudges.
Call it macaroni: Who can stay angry when presented with a hunky slice of lasagna or steaming bowl of spaghetti Bolognese? If ever there was a peace-making meal, it was served on National Pasta Day, when everything from trofie al pesto to mac-and-cheese takes over the table.
If carbing up – ahem – backs you up, thank goodness it’s also Four Prunes Day, an Oct. 17 – ahem – celebration of the digestive regularity promoted by the daily consumption of four (or more) dried plums. Enjoy!
Steel sign: Definitely enjoying life was British inventor Henry Bessemer, who patented the Bessemer process – his unique method for blasting air through molten iron to create steel – on this date in 1855.
Thomas Something-or-another: Speaking of inventors you know, the Wizard of Menlo Park struck again on Oct. 17, 1888, when he filed to patent his “optical phonograph” – the world’s first movie-projection system.
Radio days: Closely associated with Thomas Edison was the Radio Corporation of America, which was founded on this date in 1919 (leveraging patents obtained from Westinghouse and GE, as well as materials and properties GE obtained from Edison).
Calder goes cold: Britain’s Calder Hall nuclear power plant was decommissioned in 2003.
On her majesty’s electrical grid: Also making technological history was the world’s first commercial nuclear power plant, christened in England 69 years ago today by Queen Elizabeth II.
We don’t need no education: And it was Oct. 17, 1979, when President Jimmy Carter signed legislation establishing the U.S. Department of Education.
While it was new and improved, the remade department – rapidly being unmade by the current presidential administration – was actually not the first federal education department.
Look, up in the sky! American comic book writer Jerome “Jerry” Siegel (1914-1996) – one half of the dynamic duo that created “Superman” (alongside Canadian American artist Joe Shuster), and a champion of truth, justice and comic book creator rights – would be 111 years old today.
Mae be the first: Excluding secret missions and alien abductions, Jemison was the first Black woman in space.
Also born on Oct. 17 were American pathologist and physician Ernest Goodpasture (1886-1960), who fostered the development of vaccines against smallpox, influenza, typhus and numerous other illnesses; American playwright, essayist and screenwriter Arthur Miller (1915-2005), who penned “Death of a Salesman,” “The Crucible” and other masterworks of the stage and screen; American journalist and author Jimmy Breslin (1928-2017), the tough-talking, Pulitzer Prize-winning pride of Queens; American daredevil Robert “Evel” Knievel (1938-2007), a Motorcycle Hall of Fame inductee known best for his ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps (and other death-defying stunts); and American engineer, physician and former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison (born 1956), the first African American woman to travel to space.
Hi, my name is (what?), my name is (who?), my name is (chka-chka…): And take a bow, Marshall Bruce Mathers III! The American rapper, songwriter and record producer – a 15-time Grammy Award winner, one-time Academy Award winner and 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee known best by the stage name Eminem – turns 53 today.
Rap with us at editor@innovateli.com, where you can wish The Real Slim Shady a happy birthday and lay down some news tips and calendar events.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Good news all around (almost): Governor Kathy Hochul’s latest Long Island victory lap tossed bouquets at public safety and the $455 million Belmont Park reconstruction project.
On Wednesday – the same day Hochul issued a fiery response to reports of “disgusting and … abhorrent” comments made in a Young Republican National Federation group chat – the governor visited the Village of Garden City Police Department to trumpet $21 million-plus in state funding aimed at modernizing Long Island law-enforcement agencies. That regional investment is part of a $127 million statewide law-enforcement upgrade that’s creating tangible results, according to Hochul, who cited a 14 percent year-over-year decrease in Garden City violent crime.
The governor also joined representatives of the New York Racing Association, New York City-based developer AECOM Tishman and various labor unions for a “topping out” ceremony at Belmont Park, marking the placement of the new Belmont grandstand’s highest (and last) construction beam. “Two years from now, there’ll be over 50,000 fans screaming at the top of their lungs as they descend on Elmont for the Breeders Cup Championships,” Hochul noted. “What makes me so excited [is] the $155 million economic impact … this is what this community needs and deserves.”
Joakim Nyoni: Advancement expert.
Engagement announcement: Farmingdale State College will welcome a new vice president for development and alumni engagement next month.
Joakim Nyoni, most recently the senior associate vice president for advancement and campaign co-director at the University at Buffalo, is scheduled to become Farmingdale State’s newest VP on Nov. 3. Reporting directly to Farmingdale State College President Robert Prezant, the 20-year collegiate-administration veteran will essentially serve as Farmingdale State’s chief advancement officer, providing senior leadership for all fundraising and alumni-relations activities while counseling Prezant as a member of the President’s Cabinet.
Nyoni called Farmingdale State “a special place with special people” and said the college is “uniquely positioned to address the future needs of our community, state and country.” Prezant, meanwhile, applauded Nyoni’s “extensive experience, insight and depth in building successful advancement programs” and applauded the “high aspirations” of his new VP. “[Nyoni] will help engage donors and alumni in new and innovative ways,” the president added. “He demonstrated a deep understanding of Farmingdale … (and) is well-positioned to lead our development initiatives to the next level.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Critical need: The head of a Long Island nonprofit focused on mental and emotional wellness is imploring Albany to speed up its legislative approval of new depression therapies and other cutting-edge mental-health treatments.
Miss management: We’re still cracking up over that bit in this week’s Monday Calendar Newsletter, about the – wait, you didn’t see it? Because you don’t have a newsletter subscription?? Criminy, what will you miss next Monday?!? (Nothing, if you click right here).
ICYMI
Time magazine’s first-ever Best Inventions Hall of Fame includes a cutting-edge anti-paralysis neural interface field-tested by one the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research’s brightest innovators.
LIVIN’ ON THE EDGE
New knowledge, best practices and business-development opportunities abound in The Entrepreneur’s Edge, Innovate Long Island’s exciting promoted-content section. Experts sharing their insider perspectives so far include:
- Tom Stebbins of the Lawsuit Reform Alliance of New York, who takes on Albany’s broken civil liability system.
- Kendra McQuilton of Energia, who examines the acceptable limits of professional success.
- Prince Jindal and Jung Won Kim of Lantern Finance, who shed new light on small-business access to capital.
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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 Texas: Dallas-based police-performance promoter Polis Solutions teams up with the Arlington, VA-based National Policing Institute to advance law enforcement data analytics.
From Massachusetts: Burlington-based law school admissions ace JD-Next supports exceptional law school applicants with its generous Impact Scholarships program.
From Texas: Austin-based health-and-wellness booster Nutrabolt and parent company C4 Energy partner with Japan’s Toho International on Godzilla-themed energy drinks.
ON THE MOVE
Germine Casanova
+ Germine Casanova has been elected to the board of trustees of the Variety Child Learning Center in Syosset. She is an associate at Jaspan Schlesinger Narendran in Garden City.
+ Northwell Health has announced three executive appointments in its Central Market, which covers Queens and Western Nassau County:
- Jon Sendach has been named Northwell Health executive vice president and president of the Central Market. He was deputy market president and president of North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset.
- Michael Gitman has been named president of North Shore University Hospital. The Northwell Health senior vice president was president of Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park.
- Lenny Nartowicz has been named president of Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park. The Northwell health senior vice president was deputy president of the Eastern Market and deputy executive director of South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore.
+ Joakim Nyoni has been appointed Farmingdale State College vice president for development and alumni engagement, effective Nov. 3. He is currently senior associate vice president for advancement and campaign co-director at the University at Buffalo.
+ East Setauket-based North Suffolk Cariology, a practice of the Stony Brook Medicine Community Medical Group, has announced the hiring of two additional cardiologists:
- Michael Weber is a board-certified electrophysiologist. He earned his medical degree from the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University and most recently was a cardiac electrophysiologist at Heart Rhythm Consultants of New York in Smithtown.
- Jeffrey Le specializes in interventional cardiology. He earned his medical degree from the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine in Old Westbury and completed his internal medicine residency at Northwell Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan.
+ Roger Lehneis has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Oakdale Civic Association. He is chief financial officer at Texas-based Premier Prosthetics.
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 – on Long Island, and soon, across New York State (just ask LocaLI Bred). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Not Your Grandfather’s Solar System Edition)
Planet 9 from outer space: But is it Planet X or Planet Y?
X: Science’s best telescopic technology might finally pin down elusive Planet X.
Y: Who needs Planet X when Earth-sized Planet Y may lurk much closer?
Z: Why Gen Z is gazing at the stars.
Letter boxed: Please continue supporting the creative companies that support Innovate Long Island, including LocaLI Bred, the mail-order maverick that fills one-of-a-kind gift boxes with unique made-on-Long Island merch. Check them out (and don’t forget code “innovateli5” for big corporate-order discounts!).
