Away we go: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, and not just any Friday but the last Friday in July – and your last Innovate Long Island newsletter for 10 days or so.
Wait, that’s not true … your regularly scheduled Calendar Newsletter will be waiting for you Monday morning. But after that, we’re taking a short summer break, so no newsletters Aug. 3, 5 or 8.
Back at you the second week of August with fresh innovation coverage – but before we jump ahead, we’ve got a busy week of socioeconomic progress to wrap up right here. Let’s do it!
Winging it: What’sa matter … chicken?
Gonna need a bigger plate: It’s July 29 out there, and if you’re hungry, you’re in luck – there’s good eating on National Lasagna Day and National Chicken Wing Day, both served hot on this date.
Never a dull moment: Better eat up, you’re going to need the energy – today is also International Tiger Day, National Rain Day, System Administrator Appreciation Day, the first day of the Islamic New Year and, if you’re feeling bold and a little creepy, National Talk In An Elevator Day.
An artistic triomphe: If none of that interests you, maybe jet over to Paris, where the Arc de Triomphe – among the world’s most recognizable monuments – was officially opened on this date in 1836 by French King Louis-Philippe.
For those keeping score, the arc – officially, the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile – was commissioned in 1806 by Napoleon Bonaparte.
Smooth transition: Speaking of long-lasting infrastructure, asphalt roads became a thing on July 29, 1870, when the first sheets of modern asphalt were laid across William Street in Newark, NJ.
Good call: Also getting people talking was the freshly minted transcontinental telephone line between New York City and San Francisco, connecting Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson on its first test call 108 years ago today.
I am iron lung: The original, game-changing artificial respirator.
Lung capacity: The then-advanced, now-primitive electric respirator known as the “iron lung” bowed July 29, 1927, at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital.
A Hobbit’s tale: And it was this date in 1954 when J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” was originally published in the UK by esteemed house Allen & Unwin.
Epic sequels “The Two Towers” and “The Return of the King” would be published separately over the next 15 months, with lots more Tolkien to follow.
Hunt gatherer: Overlooked American inventor Walter Hunt (1796-1859) – who invented the safety pin, a practical sewing machine, an advanced fountain pen, the repeating rifle, a modern flax spinner and plenty of other useful things – would be 226 years old today.
Prime number: Happy 65th, Fumio Kishida!
Also born on July 29 were English Egyptologist Anthony John Arkell (1898-1980), who pioneered archeological exploration of Sudan; Indian businessman J.R.D. Tata (1904-1993), an aviation pioneer who built India’s largest industrial empire; British chemist Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin (1910-1994), who earned a Nobel Prize for advancing X-ray crystallography; Italian-born French manufacturer Baron Marcel Louis Michel Antoine Bich (1914-1994), who amassed a fortune selling cheap pens and lighters; and American investor Charles Schwab (born 1937), who amassed a fortune discounting equity securities.
Tanjōbi! And take a bow, Fumio Kishida! The Japanese prime minister and president of the powerful Asian nation’s Liberal Democratic Party turns 65 today.
Wish the Japanese leader well at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips are of prime interest and we are grateful to minister to your calendar-event needs.
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
Rank and file: Add Stony Brook University Hospital to the list of Long Island hospitals recognized in the 2022-2023 U.S. News & World Report “Best Hospitals” rankings.
Joining five Northwell Health facilities (Huntington Hospital, Glen Cove Hospital, Manhattan’s Lenox Hill Hospital, Manhasset’s North Shore University Hospital and Glen Oaks’ Long Island Jewish Medical Center) and NYU Langone-Long Island (part of New York City-based NYU Langone Health), SBUH ranks in the top 50 nationally for its Urology and Diabetes/Endocrinology specialties on this year’s list, and is now New York State’s ninth-best hospital – up from 10th best in last year’s U.S. News & World Report rundown.
Stony Brook Medicine Chief Executive Officer Hal Paz said he was “delighted” by the national recognition, which saw SBUH rank in the top 3 percent of nationwide peer hospitals for Urology and top 7 percent for Diabetes/Endocrinology. “U.S. News and World Report ‘Best Hospital’ rankings [are] a national benchmark of quality,” noted Paz, who doubles as Stony Brook Medicine’s executive vice president of health sciences. “This ranking … demonstrates the range of top-caliber expertise in our healthcare system.”
Tell your friends: New York State wants to ink 2 gigawatts’ worth of new offshore-wind development contracts.
Third time’s a charm: The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority believes there’s enough renewable energy to power another 1.5 million New York homes blowing in the wind.
Officially implementing the $500 million offshore-wind infrastructure investment detailed in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 2022 State of the State masterplan, NYSERDA has announced its third offshore-wind solicitation, seeking 2,000 megawatts-plus of ocean wind-generated electricity. The call follows Albany’s first offshore-wind solicitation in 2018 (which inked contracts for nearly 1,700 megawatts) and second in 2020 (set to deliver 2,490 total megawatts); as with the previous solicitations, offshore wind ports, onshore manufacturing operations and all manners of supply-chain infrastructure are in play.
With five wind projects already in various stages of development in state waters, the request for proposals for another 2 gigawatts of clean-gen power is an “exciting announcement,” according to New York Offshore Wind Alliance Director Fred Zalcman. “[This] puts New York in position to achieve its ambitious, nation-leading offshore-wind targets well ahead of schedule and frontloads the opportunities for the state to capture new supply-chain opportunities and create high-road jobs, all while addressing the existential threat of climate change,” Zalcman said Wednesday.
TOP OF THE SITE
Act out: A proposed federal law designed to promote innovation and online consumer options will stifle both, warns Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce President Phil Andrews.
Part daughter, part mother, all cop: Stony Brook University Chief of Police Dawn Smallwood has been an FBI special agent and an NCIS investigator, but more importantly a daughter (and mother) of strong women. Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast declares maternal law.
ICYMI
There’s no summer vacation for the National Offshore Wind Research and Development Consortium.
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 Utah: Provo-based plant-sourced wellness wunderkind HempLucid offers medically supervised ketamine therapy as an employee benefit.
From Illinois: Schaumburg-based workforce-analytics ace Pegasus Knowledge Solutions debuts innovative nurse-retention tool in Ohio hospitals.
From New York City: Preventative-medicine pioneer Modern Age launches digital age-assessment tool to help users mitigate aging risks.
ON THE MOVE
Angela Wambugu Cobb
+ Angela Wambugu Cobb has been appointed senior associate vice president for institutional advancement at SUNY Old Westbury. She previously worked for the City University of New York.
+ Jeffrey Fischer-Smith has joined SUNY Old Westbury as vice president for institutional advancement and executive director of the Old Westbury College Foundation. He was previously vice president of development at the Pacific School of Religion.
+ Taylor Lininger has joined Campolo, Middleton & McCormick LLP as a legal assistant. She was previously a legal assistant at Jenner & Block LLP.
+ Nina Smith has been appointed chief operations officer at Westbury-based Jovia Financial Credit Union. She was previously a senior vice president at New York Community Bank.
+ John Clarke has been named occupational medicine director and chief medical officer at Upton-based Brookhaven National Laboratory. He was most recently director of occupational medicine at Cornell University in Ithaca.
+ Karim Boughida has been named Stony Brook University dean of libraries. He was previously dean of university libraries at the University of Rhode Island.
+ Edward Kimnitzer has been promoted to assistant superintendent for instruction and personnel in the East Williston Union Free School District. He previously served as director of technology, innovation and information services.
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
Ain’t seen nothing yet: Climate-change scientists warn that if a storm equivalent to 2012’s Superstorm Sandy (above) hits in 2050, most of Southern New York will be underwater.
In search of: Why scientists are traveling through time on the Bering Sea.
In church of: How the Supreme Court is dismantling religious freedom.
In surge of: Why future flood forecasts concern coastal communities.
In crowd: Please continue supporting all the amazing institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including Northwell Health, always in on the latest and greatest healthcare innovations. Check them out.
