The mother of all newsletters: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, as we reach the end of another bustling workweek and tee up another well-earned weekend – not just any weekend, of course, but the weekend of Mother’s Day 2022.
We know you’ve been busy. Don’t worry, it’s not too late.
Off menu: International No Diet Day AND National Beverage Day? For criminy’s sake, please celebrate responsibly.
Anything goes: For now, it’s May 6 out there, and we strongly recommend you avoid fad food plans – and maybe scales and mirrors – on International No Diet Day, when our bowls and plates are meant to overflow with forbidden foodstuffs.
Whatever you decide to eat, wash it down with … whatever you want! It’s also National Beverage Day, celebrating all manners of drinkables.
The final frontier: This first Friday in May also beams down National Space Day, an annual observance dedicated to historical achievements and future opportunities in star trekking.
Upper case: Here on Earth, the New York Herald – a cornerstone of the Penny Press Movement and bedrock of modern journalism founded by inventive editor James Gordon Bennett – published its first issue 187 years ago today.
The daily, which featured the then-unique ideas of nonpartisan political reporting and regular business-news coverage, would crank until 1924, when it was acquired by the rival New York Tribune.
Lock up: The famous Yale Lock.
Cold case: American refrigerators became a thing on this date in 1851, when Louisiana inventor John Gorrie received the first U.S. patent for a mechanical refrigerating or ice-making machine.
On that same day – May 6, 1851 – New York mechanical engineer Linus Yale Jr. locked up a U.S. patent for a unique key-and-lock system designed especially for banks.
Tragic case: Hydrogen-filled dirigibles marked a true aviation innovation and a big forward step for travelers – but the “airship era” came crashing down on May 6, 1937, when the German airship Hindenburg exploded in flames on approach to Lakehurst, NJ.
Open and shut case: Philadelphia surgeon John Gibbon Jr. performed the first successful open-heart surgery assisted by a cardiopulmonary bypass machine, which Gibbon designed, on this date in 1953.
Test case: And it was May 6, 1941, when the prototype XP-47B Thunderbolt fighter – a World War II workhorse designed and manufactured right here on Long Island by Republic Aviation – made its first test flight.
Pole position: American adventurer and explorer Robert Edwin Peary Sr. (1856-1920) – a U.S. Navy officer known best for his 19th and 20th century Arctic expeditions, including the first to reach the North Pole (or was it?) – would be 166 years old today.
Your mother: Freud, ever Oedipal.
Also born on May 6 were American dentist and author Chapin Harris (1806-1860), who founded professional dentistry; American geologist Grove Gilbert (1843-1918), who founded modern geomorphology; Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), who founded psychoanalysis; American banker Amadeo “A.P.” Giannini (1870-1949), who founded Bank of America; and American manufacturer Daniel Gerber (1898-1974), who founded a baby-food empire.
Giant achievements: And take a bow, Willie Howard Mays Jr.! The legendary “Say Hey Kid” – routinely counted among the greatest Major League Baseball players to ever grace the field – turns 91 today.
Wish the ex-Met (but mostly ex-Giant) well at editor@innovateli.com, where news tips and calendar events make you the all-star slugger.
About our sponsor: Northwell Health is New York’s largest healthcare provider and private employer, with 23 hospitals, 750 outpatient facilities and 70,000-plus 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
Feeling a little better: Things are looking up in the C-suite, according to the latest Marcum-Hofstra CEO Survey.
Conducted as part of the Zarb School of Business MBA curriculum, the second Marcum-Hofstra survey of 2022 – which in April queried 257 executives of regional companies with $5 million to $1 billion in annual revenues – revealed that optimism among mid-market CEOs is on the rise. Specifically, the percentage of CEOs rating their business outlook a 10 (on a scale of 1-10) rose from 8.9 percent in February to 16 percent in April, while the percentage of those who rated their business outlook 8 or higher also increased, from 36.5 percent to 42.1 percent.
While overall optimism improved, the survey noted considerable differences among sectors, with CEO outlooks dipping in several key industries, including retail, technology and manufacturing. “The sharp increase in optimism among middle-market CEOs is obviously very welcome and, hopefully, is a positive indicator, at least in the short-term,” noted Marcum Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Weiner. “But it is a mixed bag for different industries.”
Shih-Shih Chen: Giant leap for women scientists.
AWSM job: An annual Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research luncheon dedicated to advancing women-led scientific studies has smashed its own fundraising record.
The Feinstein Institutes’ 12th annual Advancing Women in Science and Medicine event (it goes by “AWSM”), held April 28 inside the Rose Theater in New York City’s Lincoln Center, raised $755,000 to fund medical research conducted by women scientists. The 2022 haul – accumulated through philanthropical gifts ranging from $2,000 to $50,000 – surged the annual program’s cumulative 12-year total past $3 million.
This year’s donations will back 66 distinct projects researching community health, disease prevention, molecular medicine, bioelectronics, COVID-19 and other critical areas, and are especially appreciated by women scientists whose efforts are historically underfunded, according to AWSM Co-President Shih-Shih Chen. “Many of these women are standing at a critical point in establishing their research careers,” noted Chen, also an assistant professor in Feinstein’s Institute for Molecular Medicine. “This funding will help them take a giant step forward.”
TOP OF THE SITE
In-studio guest: Hofstra University’s WRHU radio station now shares space with the all-new Long Island Bureau of WABC-TV’s “Eyewitness News.”
Battle stations: Northwell Health’s Center for Global Health is providing key telehealth services to overwhelmed healthcare providers on Ukraine’s ferocious front lines.
Brains of the operations: Season 3 is coming soon … before it drops, catch up with Seasons 1 and 2 of Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast, where Long Island’s leading innovators share their secrets and strategies. Free intelligence here!
ICYMI
Another impressive round for the Crushies, another impressive merger for LI law firms.
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 New Jersey: Avalon-based real estate tech trendsetter Pacaso launches co-ownership platform for luxury second homes on the Jersey Shore.
From Ohio: Cincinnati-based gun-safety go-getter Level 2 Security releases advanced tracking system designed to alert gun owners whenever their gun moves.
From Florida: Miami-based cruise king Carnival Corp. completes installation of nearly 600 food-waste biodigesters across its passenger fleet.
ON THE MOVE
Alison Kucera
+ Alison Kucera has joined Hauppauge-based Austin Williams as an account supervisor. She was previously a program coordinator at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip.
+ Melissa Chemick has been hired as Farmingdale State College’s senior director for development operations and data services. She was previously a system’s operator at the Nassau Community College Foundation in Garden City.
+ William Mills has joined Brookville-based AHRC Nassau’s Board of Directors. He is an ID theft analyst for the Internal Revenue Service in Brookhaven.
+ Allison Storck has been promoted to director of public relations for the Guide Dog Foundation in Smithtown. She served previously as associate director of public relations.
+ Robert McKenna has joined Republic Bank as a senior vice president and Long Island team leader. He was previously first vice president/commercial loan officer at Valley National Bank.
+ Jason Fein has been hired as manager of the Brooklyn sales office of Huntington-based Daniel Gale Sotheby’s Realty. He is the founder of Texas-based Aurora Capital.
+ Rachel Titus has been named Long Island Nitrogen Action Plan program coordinator for the Long Island Regional Planning Council. She previously served the LIRPC as executive assistant.
+ Celeste Corcoran has been hired as a geologist at Hauppauge-based VHB Engineering. She was previously a teaching assistant at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy.
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 (Big Weekend Edition)
Old Kentucky home: It’s a whole thing.
You only get one: Why every day should be Mother’s Day.
Southern hospitality: Why the Kentucky Derby is really a bonus holiday.
“Strange” things: Why it’s a pretty big deal that Sam Raimi directed the latest Marvel blockbuster.
Seven days a week: And 24 hours a day, Northwell Health – one of the amazing organizations that support Innovate Long Island – battles across the front lines of healthcare innovation. Check them out.
