Fond farewell: Welcome to Friday, friends, and an ending that’s replete with innovative beginnings.
With a busy and beautiful May on the doorstep, we’re wrapping up transitional April and this latest bustling workweek – and as is our habit, we’re doing it with style. Let’s boogie.
True that: The Make-a-Wish Foundation should be busy today.
Granted: We start our April 29 review with the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s 2022 World Wish Day, a spark of hope meant to ignite new possibilities for children battling critical illnesses.
Dance fever: Get your own groove on during International Dance Day, which is also celebrated each April 29 (you’ll soon learn why).
And after you’ve done the Twist, the Macarena and whatever else, do the shrimp: Today is also National Shrimp Scampi Day, an annual celebration of the lemony delight.
Head of steam: Other historically revered global delights include the Industrial Revolution, which started (sorta) on April 29, 1769, when Scottish merchant James Watt patented his advanced steam engine.
Kinda wordy: British physician and lexicographer Peter Roget revolutionized how writers write when he published his “Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases Classified so as to Facilitate the Expression of Ideas and to Assist in Literary Composition” 170 years ago today.
The 1,000-copy first edition of the modern thesaurus – which Roget published some 50 years after he wrote it – arranged its 15,000 entries conceptually, not alphabetically.
Tooth marks: Zippers have come a long way since 1913.
Zip it: Speaking of handy inventions, Swedish-American scientist and inventor Gideon Sundback patented the “Hook-Less Fastener” on this date in 1913, securing the rights to the first modern zipper.
Anatomy of a pioneer: Johns Hopkins Medical School Professor of Physiology Florence Rena Sabin, an expert anatomist, became the first women elected to the U.S. National Academy of Science on April 29, 1925.
Romancing the Whitestone: And the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge opened to vehicular traffic on this date in 1939.
The bridge, first proposed by master planner Robert Moses, connects the U.S. mainland (Bronx) and western Long Island (Queens) and checked off several other boxes, including easier access for upstate and interstate travelers to the 1939 World’s Fair and a direct route to North Beach Airport (now LaGuardia Airport).
So you think you can dance: French dancer and ballet master Jean-Georges Noverre (1727-1810) – considered the creator of ballet d’action, the form and function of the 19th Century narrative ballet – would be 295 years old today.
Jazz royalty: Elegant Ellington.
Also born on April 29 were American businessman, newspaper publisher and politician William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951), who redefined American journalism; Austrian nuclear physicist Marietta Blau, who overcame numerous stereotypes to significantly advance particle physics; American composer, pianist and bandleader Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899-1974), who helped establish big-band jazz; American plasma physicist Betsy Ancker-Johnson (1927-2020), who invented a gigacycle range signal generator and much more; and iconic American musician Willie Nelson (born 1933), among the most recognizable brands of American entertainment and activism.
Hello, Jerry! And take a bow, Jerome Allen Seinfeld! The Brooklyn-born standup comedian, actor, writer and producer – known best for playing himself (so, essentially, doing nothing) – turns 68 today.
Wish the sitcom icon well at editor@innovateli.com. Also this week: Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) confuses Mr. Peterman’s calendar items; mistaken for an investigative journalist, Kramer (Michael Richards) receives multiple news tips; and George (Jason Alexander) binges on free-and-easy newsletter subscriptions to beef up his inbox.
About our sponsor: St. Joseph’s University has provided a diverse population of students in the New York metropolitan area with an affordable education rooted in the liberal arts tradition since 1916. Independent and coeducational, the university provides a strong academic and value-oriented education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, aiming to prepare each student for a life characterized by integrity, intellectual rigor, social responsibility, spiritual depth and service. Through its Long Island, Brooklyn and online campuses, the university offers degrees in 60 majors, special course offerings and certificates and affiliated and pre-professional programs. Learn more here.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Venture decade: Ocular biotech, climate-friendly “modular architecture” and Asian foodstuffs won the day in the 10th annual Hofstra-Digital Remedy Venture Challenge.
The annual Hofstra University Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship competition – made possible by Hofstra Trustee and alumnus Mike Seimen, founder and CEO of New York City-based media/tech firm Digital Remedy – offers $75,000 in business-development capital and services to winning student entrepreneurs, doled out by a high-caliber bench of professional judges. This year’s panel represented the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County, Brooklyn’s BrookLAN Video Game Bar & Lounge and the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell.
First place went to Panco, an automatic wok-tossing machine for commercial Asian kitchens created by mechanical engineering student Nolan Quon, who collected the $44,000 grand-prize package. Runners-up were Sightful, medicine student Rohun Gupta’s early-stage biotech bridging anti-aging technologies and eye diseases (second place, $21,000), and Green & Smart Property Developments, through which sustainability students Bereket Watts and Jule Abel aim to introduce environmentally sensitive, container-based modular architecture principles to the Long Island housing market (third place, $9,000).
Jennifer Eileen Reddin Cassar: Fully bright.
Ful of it: An Adelphi University School of Social Work doctoral candidate has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship.
Jennifer Eileen Reddin Cassar, a practicing child-welfare attorney and licensed clinical social worker, has been selected to join the Fulbright Specialist Roster, through which she will engage in weeks-long “project-based exchanges” at host institutions around the globe. Reddin, who’s already traveled to Kenya on an academic and cultural mission led by Adelphi Professor and Associate Provost Anne Mungai, is just beginning her Fulbright matching process, but hopes the opportunity will send her to the Vietnam Women’s Academy, where she’d like to help create a Master of Social Work curriculum.
The legal director of New York City-based foster-care agency JCCA, who earned her MSW from Adelphi and her J.D. from Boston College, is “simply awestruck” by her selection for the ultra-competitive U.S. Department of State academic program. “(In Kenya), I was able to design and implement a program to practice social work in a nontraditional setting,” Reddin noted. “Having this opportunity in 2022 is nothing short of amazing.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Promotional content: The forward-focused Long Island Regional Economic Development Council has looked within to find its new high-powered co-leaders.
Best shot: University of Pennsylvania researchers credited with the science behind the COVID-19 vaccines have earned top marks from Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institutes.
Going somewhere: Bounding from the laboratory to the C-suite to the production studio to the NBA, Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast delivers regional socioeconomic lessons you can’t learn anywhere else. Get going.
ICYMI
Capitol support for Plum Island preservationists; groundbreaking support for mentally challenged Islanders.
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: Mountain View-based employment-solutions facilitator Moveworks powers up sophisticated, AI-powered human resources platform.
From New Jersey: Freehold-based plant-formulated pest spray EcoBuggy brings 100 percent organic mosquito and tick repellent to market.
From California: Irvine-based Fit Body Boot Camp founder Steve Hochman introduces world’s first wearable glute-activating device.
ON THE MOVE
MaryAnne Hyland
+ MaryAnne Hyland has been named dean of Adelphi University’s Robert B. Willumstad School of Business. The 22-year Adelphi faculty veteran has served as interim business school dean since March 2021.
+ Carl Lejuez has been named Stony Brook University executive vice president and provost. He served most recently as University of Connecticut provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.
+ Patrick Beckley has been promoted to commissioner of Suffolk County Fire Rescue and Emergency Services in Yaphank. He previously served as deputy commissioner.
+ Danielle Murray has been promoted to partner at Hauppauge-based Petroske Riezenman & Meyers. She was previously a senior associate attorney.
+ Eric Einhart has been elected to the Virginia-based National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys-New York Chapter’s Board of Directors. He is a partner at Garden City-based Russo Law Group.
+ Justinne Lake-Jednizak has been hired as director of education and public programs at Raynham Hall Museum in Oyster Bay. She was previously coordinator of the Mellon Undergraduate Curatorial at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
+ Jeremy May has been hired as an associate attorney at Mineola-based Schroder & Strom. He previously served as acting chairman of the Nassau County Assessment Review Commission in Mineola.
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 St. Joe’s). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD
Zoom out: Somehow, this stifles creativity.
Separate matter: Science says video meetings reduce innovative brainstorming.
Separation anxiety: Could Texas actually secede from the United States?
Inseparable: New Hampshire, meanwhile, will definitely not secede.
Separate but equal: Please continue supporting the amazing institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including the freshly minted St. Joseph’s University, which places equal emphasis on academic achievement and personal growth. Check them out.
