End run: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, and the last leg of this busy late-summer workweek.
All aboard: The Mayflower, full sails.
It’s Sept. 6 out there, and if you had the Mayflower departing Plymouth, England, and setting a course for history on this date in 1620, well done! A half-crown and two shillings for you; please contact our Awards Department for more information.
Are you ready for some football? It’s Unification Day in Bulgaria and Armed Forces Day in São Tomé and Príncipe … but forget all that, because the 2019-2020 NFL season kicks off this weekend, and that, of course, is awesome.
With the fantasy sports market hurtling toward a $1.5 billion valuation, very awesome indeed.
Missing something: The first expedition to circumnavigate the globe, commanded by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, returned to Spain on this date in 1522 – without Ferdinand Magellan.
One ringy-dingy: Using Edison’s system, British startup Telephone Company Ltd. opened the first public UK telephone exchange in London on Sept. 6, 1879.
Prehistoric: Carnation Evaporated Milk, once pitched by Fred Flintstone himself, became liquid 120 years ago today.
Milking it: Now part of the Nestlé empire, the Pacific Coast Condensed Milk Co., which would create the famous Carnation brand, was founded on this date in 1899 in Washington State.
Speaking of the dairy aisle, the first true self-service supermarket – the Piggly Wiggly in Memphis, Tenn. – opened on Sept. 6, 1916.
U.S. wide open: And it was this date in 1975 when then-18-year-old Czech tennis star Martina Navratilova, visiting New York for the U.S. Open tennis tournament, requested and received U.S. political asylum.
Small-minded: English chemist and physicist John Dalton (1766-1844) – the big brain behind atomic theory, the scientific precept that says all matter is composed of itty-bitty atoms – would be 253 years old today.
Also born on Sept. 6 were progressive American reformer, pacifist and social worker Jane Addams (1860-1935), the first American woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize; Yrjo Vaisala (1891-1971), the “father of space research in Finland”; Louis Essen (1908 -1997), the English physicist who invented the first practical atomic clock; Pink Floyd front man Roger Waters (born 1943); and “Saturday Night Live” alumna Jane Curtin (born 1947).
Carly Fiorina: Right-leaning, wrong time.
iCarly: And take a bow, Carly Fiorina – the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, conservative activist, philanthropist and one-time Republican presidential candidate turns 72 today.
Wish the woman-before-her-time, the “Queen of Deadpan” and all the other Sept. 6 innovators well at editor@innovateli.com. We’ll take the presents, please and thank you – story tips and calendar items always appreciated, even on an atomic scale.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
We’ll look into it: Forensic leverage for fraud victims.
Justice league: The State University of New York at Old Westbury School of Business is gearing up to assist victims of suspected financial fraud who can’t find (or afford) the right forensic investigative services.
Part of Old Westbury’s innovative Master’s Degree in Forensic Accounting program, the Justice for Fraud Victims project is being developed in conjunction with the Long Island Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Its primary mission: to assist victims (and, potentially, prosecutors) by molding higher-ed, law enforcement and forensic-accounting resources into an effective fraud-fighting unit that also gives SUNY accounting students hands-on experience.
“A value we work to instill in each of our students is that they must contribute to the development of a world that is just for all,” noted SUNY Old Westbury President Calvin Butts III. “The Justice for Fraud Victims Project is an effort that ties directly to that mission, while also giving students the skill-building opportunities they need to succeed.”
Aquaman and the God of Lightning: Two Stony Brook University faculty members were among 13 national scientists to receive Department of Energy Particle Accelerator Research Grants this week, supporting studies that dive underwater and deep into microscopic scales.
The two SBU grants, totaling more than $600,000, will advance research by Adjunct Civil Engineering Professor Arjun Venkatesan, associate director for drinking water initiatives at the university’s Center for Clean Water Technology, and Navid Vafaei-Najafabadi, an assistant professor in SBU’s Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Venkatesan’s one-year, $281,000 grant will focus on a novel treatment technology designed to remove emerging contaminants from drinking water, while Vafaei-Najafabadi’s two-year, $350,000 grant will be used to design electricity-conducting plasma channels using meter-scale “lightning bolts.” Both projects include collaborations with other institutions, including Brookhaven National Laboratory, the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics and the Fermi National Accelerator.
TOP OF THE SITE
Feather in the cap: Stony Brook’s busiest biotech is going to Spain, where a leading down-feather distributor is altering its security DNA.
Blood in the water: The competition will be fierce as East End entrepreneurs dive into i-Hampton’s annual RipTide: Sink or Swim business plan competition.
Eyes on the prize: Hard-fought fourth quarters stung Hain Celestial and 1-800-Flowers.com, but things look sharper in 2020.
ICYMI
International education innovators come to NYIT, NYU Winthrop Hospital goes to the dogs.
BEST OF THE WEST (AND SOMETIMES NORTH/SOUTH)
Innovate LI’s inbox overrunneth with inspirational ideas from all North American corners. This week’s brightest out-of-town innovations:
Look around: Concept3D maps out Penn State.
From Colorado: Denver-based immersive modeler Concept3D draws up an interactive “virtual tour platform” for Penn State University campuses and parks.
From California: Berkeley-based analytical ace Steep Hill brings its unique cannabis-quality testing tech to Oklahoma.
From Washington: D.C.-based national business strategist The Manifest surveys conservatives and liberals, both confident they can spot fake news.
ON THE MOVE
Sybil Tasker
+ Sybil Tasker has been appointed chief medical officer at Farmingdale-based Codagenix. Prior to joining Codagenix, she served as CMO of Maryland-based Altimmune.
+ Robert Piechota has been appointed branch manager of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Hauppauge office. He previously directed the New York City College of Technology Small Business Development Center in Brooklyn and ran a private consulting business.
+ Greg Demetriou has been invited to join the Forbes Agency Council, a by-invitation community of PR, advertising and media strategy executives. He is the CEO of Edgewood-based Lorraine Gregory Communications.
+ Edward Cruz has been named director of residence life at Farmingdale State College. He previously served as assistant director of residence life and housing at SUNY Oswego.
+ Noah Kauff has been appointed chief of cancer genetics at the Northwell Health Cancer Institute in Lake Success. He previously served as director of clinical cancer genetics at North Carolina-based Duke Cancer Institute.
+ Katrina Wu has been hired as an assistant production underwriter at Woodbury-based SterlingRisk Insurance. She previously served as an assistant account executive at Woodbury-based HUB International Northeast.
BELOW THE FOLD
John Lennon: Strange days indeed.
Song: From Springsteen to the Beatles to the Beastie Boys, strange origins mark 17 of your favorite songs.
Dance: Half-a-century later, Jazzercise is still kicking.
A little romance: Not a friendly introduction, a workplace flirtation or even kismet – algorithmic online dating is how most couples now meet, according to new research.
Cutting in: Please continue supporting the amazing institutions that support Innovate LI, including NYIT, home of Vice President Nada Anid and dozens of other amazing educators. Check them out.
