Last leg: Welcome to the first Friday in December, intrepid innovators – don’t look now, but Christmas Eve is three weeks from tomorrow and 2023 is just four short weeks away.
That means you’re probably running around this weekend – but first, one more workday to sprint through, and this well-heeled innovation review to kick it off right. On your feet!
Pure love: It’s Dec. 2 out there, and we’re mixing it up on National Mutt Day, an annual opportunity for goldendoodles, cockapoos and puggles to lord it over their purebred brethren.
Kernel of truth: Inventor Charles Cretors’ “improved No. 2 wagon.”
Pop psychology: Today is also known in some circles as the Business of Popping Corn Day – less a celebration of everyone’s favorite movie munchie than the 1885 invention of the first commercial oil-based popper.
You know what else corn is good for? Corn fritters! Very good news on National Fritters Day, also fried up fresh every Dec. 2.
Corny joke: You know who loved corn fritters? President James Monroe! (Actually, we don’t know that … but we do know it was this date in 1823 when he warned European powers against colonizing anywhere in the Western Hemisphere, what history recalls as the Monroe Doctrine).
Blade runner: Inventor King Camp Gillette patented his innovative safety razor on Dec. 2, 1901, first step on the road to his cornerstone multibillion-dollar brand.
Fission quest: Fermi and his University of Chicago colleagues were right about splitting atoms — and containing the nuclear reaction.
Terra Fermi: Speaking of close shaves, Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi presided over the world’s first self-sustaining nuclear reaction 80 years ago today, forever changing life on Earth.
Protection racket: Nuclear waste and other forms of ecological contamination were paramount on Dec. 2, 1970, when U.S. Senate confirmation of first-ever Administrator William Ruckelshaus officially launched the Environmental Protection Agency.
Kept on ticking: And it was Dec. 2, 1982, when the first successful implant of a permanent artificial heart placed a Jarvik-7 device inside Seattle dentist Barney Clark.
Clark, whose presurgical prognosis was grim, lived an extra 112 days with the cutting-edge implant.
Three-ring king: American entrepreneur Charles Edward “Mr. Charlie” Ringling (1863-1926) – the Ringling Brother primarily responsible for turning the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus into “the greatest show on Earth” – would be 159 years old today.
Bel canto: Wide-ranging Maria Callas was renowned for her dramatic interpretations.
Also born on Dec. 2 were English botanist Sir James Edward Smith (1759-1828), green-thumbed founder of the Linnean Society; French soldier and mechanical engineer Nicholas-Louis Robert (1761-1828), who significantly advanced paper-making; American chemist Isabella Karle (1921-2017), a crystallography pioneer who made significant contributions to the Manhattan Project; American Greek soprano Maria Callas (1923-1977), among the 20th Century’s most celebrated and influential opera singers; and Italian fashion designer Giovanni “Gianni” Versace (1946-1997), the guru of glamour.
Rock on: And take a bow, Meg Griffin! The American disc jockey – who’s narrated the rock and roll soundtrack of your life since 1975 on classic radio stations including K-Rock, WNEW-FM and Long Island’s own WLIR, and now on the Sirius XM Satellite network – turns 69 today.
Give the velvety voiced DJ your best at editor@innovateli.com, where we’re spinning the region’s greatest socioeconomic hits – and your news tips and calendar events always make the playlist.
About our sponsor: St. Joseph’s University has been providing 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 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
See you SUNY: The State University of New York is reporting “historic increases” in student applications for the Fall 2023 semester.
Riding high on its first-ever two-week fee-waiver initiative, which allowed prospective students to apply for free to up to five SUNY campuses, SUNY is trumpeting a record 204,437 applications for Fall 2023 admittance, a 110 percent increase over the 97,257 applications for Fall 2022. The State University also launched a limited-time out-of-state “tuition-match option” this application season, allowing applicants from eight states – including several Northeast states, plus Illinois and California – to receive their in-state tuition and benefits at SUNY schools.
That has driven up out-of-state applications across SUNY’s 64-campus system, including a strong contingent of Long Island institutions led by Stony Brook University, SUNY Old Westbury and Farmingdale State College. “The increase in applications has far exceeded our expectations,” noted SUNY Deputy Chancellor for Enrollment Joel Wincowski. “It is a testament to the high-quality education for which SUNY is known, with some of the best faculty, staff and campus communities in the nation.”
History’s bell: Wonders await inside the Ann Currie-Bell House, one of several structures owned by the Southold Historical Society.
Travel size: A local Long Island historical society has earned a sliver of support from a new state tourism program.
The Empire State Development Corp. on Wednesday announced $15 million in grants issued through the Market New York program, a Regional Economic Development Council initiative designed to support tourism-related promotions and capital-improvement projects. Among the 69 state awards was a $67,000 capital grant for the Southold Historical Society, which will create and execute a tourism marketing plan showcasing the Southold Historical Museum’s regional, national and international significance.
That’s one of the smaller grants awarded in Market New York’s opening round – the Aquarium of Niagara snagged a cool $1 million in construction and marketing awards, for instance – but each stipend “showcases the best of New York State,” according to Empire State Development CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight. “Tourism is vital to our communities,” Knight noted. “[This] funding helps to ensure that the state’s tourism partners can reach new markets and audiences, and enables destinations to upgrade, grow and expand to encourage sustainable economic growth.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Sensory input: Innovative tech sets the tone, but the real miracle workers at Sands Point’s Helen Keller National Center are the professional staff and powerful patients.
Digital currency: A long-awaited computer science center is finally coming to Farmingdale State College, thanks to the mighty Long Island Investment Fund.
Main event: From Vision Long Island to the Main Street Alliance, nobody has influenced LI infrastructure like Eric Alexander – hear how he did it on the latest episode of Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast, now playing downtown.
ICYMI
Transient LIMEHOF finds a home, recycling partners go full metal.
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 sports-betting trailblazer SB22 launches automated “retail betting solution” enabling third parties to manage competitive sportsbooks.
From North Carolina: Durham-based digital health innovator Pattern Health enhances online services with clinical decision-supporting Surgical Risk Prediction Suite.
From Buffalo: Nonprofit lawsuit-support organization The Milestone Charitable Foundation honors innovative trial lawyers with Compassionate Counsel awards.
ON THE MOVE
Rosemary Gomez
+ Rosemary Gomez has been hired as associate director of communications for NYU Langone-Long Island in Mineola. She was previously director of public and community relations at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn.
+ Smithtown-based SMM Advertising has made two new hires: Brandon Schwartz, formerly a freelance designer, is now a digital graphic designer, and Eric Schellderfer, formerly a public relations assistant with Garden City-based Todd S. Shapiro Associates, is now an account coordinator.
+ Michele Pincus has been promoted to deputy market director of real estate for Melville-based H2M architects + engineers. She served previously as real estate market specialist.
+ Carolyn Villegas has been hired as a marketing and event manager at Calverton-based Wellbridge Addiction Treatment and Research. She was a community and physician relations manager at Long Island Community Hospital in Patchogue.
+ Michael Dessart has been hired as president of Christmas House USA (dba Christmas House and Halloween House) in Lake Grove. He was senior vice president of global distribution strategy and operations at HBO in Manhattan.
+ Isabella Costa has been hired as an assistant account executive at Hauppauge-based Austin Williams. She is a graduate of James Madison University.
+ Carolann Maroney has been hired as director of human resources for Hauppauge-based King Kullen Grocery Co. She was previously human resources director at Clare Rose Beverage.
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 (Giftwrapped Edition)
How to keep the humans happy: No guessing, less stressing.
Give it your best: How to master the art of gift-giving.
Boss level: What your employees really want for Christmas.
Exchange rate: Secret Santa setups made easy, thanks to science.
The bow on top: Please continue supporting the amazing institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including St. Joseph’s University, where students receive the gift of strong morals, on top of the stellar academic programming. Check them out.
