That time again: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, and not just any Friday but the last before we switch the clocks from Standard Time forward to Daylight Savings Time (which begins at 3 a.m. local time Sunday, everywhere across our great nation).
Is this the last time we’ll ever “spring ahead?” Stay tuned – a bipartisan coalition of 12 U.S. Senators has reintroduced legislation to make Daylight Savings Time permanent.
In the bag: Sacking out on National Pack Your Lunch Day.
Packing it in: Here on March 10, we wrap up another busy late-winter workweek with National Pack Your Lunch Day, when Americans are encouraged to brown-bag it.
We also enjoy a smorgasbord of multinational celebrations: International Day of Women Judges (a relatively new UN observance), the International Day of Awesomeness (just because), International Wig Day (like a fabulous Cher wig, not Uncle Lenny’s bad piece), International Bag Pipe Day and more, all tuning up on March 10.
See the world: Speaking of border-blurring innovations, the famous French Foreign Legion became a thing on this date in 1831.
Uplifting: Also blurring lines was American inventor/President Abraham Lincoln, who applied to patent his unique device for “buoying vessels over shoals” on this date in 1849 (and earned that patent in 1851, making Abe the only U.S. chief executive to hold one).
Good as gold: The circa-1862 U.S. $1 bill, featuring former SCOTUS Chief Justice and Ohio Gov. Salmon Chase, then U.S. treasury secretary.
Large bills: Lincoln was in office on March 10, 1862, when the U.S. Congress – with the Civil War rapidly depleting national gold and silver reserves – authorized the issuance of the first American paper money.
Copy that: Printing his own money (so to speak) was Ohio typewriter salesman and part-time inventor Harry Gammeter, who patented the multigraph – a milestone of duplicative printing – on this date in 1903.
Flying rings: And out in space, the rings of Uranus were definitively discovered on this date in 1977.
The scientists who made the amazing find were also in the heavens, flying high aboard a now-retired, modified C-141 NASA jet known as the Kuiper Airborne Observatory.
The little things: Italian biologist and physician Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694) – a pioneer of embryology and microscopical anatomy remembered as the “father of physiology” – would be 395 years old today.
Kate Sheppard: Rock the vote.
Also born on March 10 were Scottish geologist and mathematician John Playfair (1748-1819), who believed Earth has been shaped over and over again by uniformitarianism; leading New Zealand suffragist Kate Sheppard (1847-1934), who led her adopted homeland toward unprecedented gender equality; American nurse, social worker, teacher and author Lillian Wald (1867-1940), the mother of all school nurses; Canadian politician Kim Campbell (born 1947), who briefly served as Canada’s first female prime minister; and multiple-Grammy-winning American singer Carrie Underwood (born 1983).
Chuck Norris doesn’t sleep … he waits: And take a bow, Carlos Ray “Chuck” Norris! The American martial artist, actor, product pitchman and hero of a thousand memes turns 83 today.
We didn’t know the sun wears a hat to protect itself from Chuck Norris – but we would have if you’d told us at editor@innovateli.com, where we also appreciate non-Norris news tips and calendar events.
About our sponsor: Presberg Law P.C. is Long Island’s premier IDA and business-law firm for businesses locating, relocating and expanding on Long Island. Founded in 1984, this multi-generational practice focuses on the purchase, sale, leasing and financing of commercial and industrial real estate, SBA and other loan transactions, construction projects and business sales and acquisitions.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Histories of violence: New research by Stony Brook University adolescent-psychiatry experts identifies a range of mental-health disorders common to students who threaten school violence.
Leveraging two decades of child- and adolescent-psychiatry threat-assessment evaluations gathered at SBU clinics (157 school-aged youth in all, referred to Stony Brook by 19 regional school districts), the researchers trace a pattern of psychiatric diagnoses, learning disorders and unmet educational and treatment needs among students (mean age: 13.4) who verbally or nonverbally expressed intent to do harm or otherwise act out violently – everything from brutal drawings to bringing weapons to school.
The findings, published in January by the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, uncover several trends: previous attention-deficit/hyperactivity diagnoses, similar medicinal histories, comparable family traumas and more, proving “valuations of youths who make threats need to go beyond simply assessing the threat itself,” according to lead author and Renaissance School of Medicine Clinical Psychiatry Professor Deborah Weisbrot. “Psychiatric evaluations … can lead to revelations about psychiatric diagnoses and crucial treatment and educational recommendations,” Weisbrot added.
Don’t hate them because they’re beautiful geniuses: The brainy winners of Northwell Health’s 2023 Medical Marvels competition.
Marvel studious: An all-girl high school team with big plans to convert algae into biofuel has proven itself a true Medical Marvel.
Haley Brodzansky, Sophie Hu, Zahara Naqvi, Chloe Ng and Abigail Rajan will split $1,800 in scholarship funding as first-place winners of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research’s 11th annual Medical Marvels competition, which concluded with a March 3 final round at Northwell Health’s Manhasset-based R&D mecca. Besting 120-plus Long Island and New York City high school competitors was the Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School team’s essays and posters detailing algae-based fuel, reformulated social responsibility indexes and expanded partnerships with Ecosia, an ecologically minded German search engine.
The comprehensive plan captured the annual STEM contest, which this year focused on the effects of climate change and novel greenhouse-gas reductions. “For 11 years, we have tasked Long Island’s brightest young minds to critically think about some of the most complex topics,” noted Northwell Health Assistant Vice President Ines Ruiz vanBoom. “We hope the Medical Marvels program will inspire future scientists, engineers, doctors and change-makers.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Flower power: With Long Island knee-deep in a waste-management crisis, The Debrief picks the brain of Winters Brothers Waste Management Vice President Will Flower, who offers some creative suggestions.
It’s who you know: Northwell Health and a New Jersey-based medical-products manufacturer/distributor will bring an innovative wellness line to national markets.
They’re all great! Seasons 1-3 of Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast obviously peaked with Kevin “Father of Bioelectric Medicine” Tracey. Or maybe it was the episode featuring Stony Brook University Chief of Police Dawn Smallwood. Or New York Knick-turned-social crusader John Wallace. Heck, we can’t decide – you tell us!
ICYMI
Saving Shinnecock Bay with ancient aquafarming; saving patients with future cardiologists.
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 Florida: Fort Lauderdale-based law firm Mr. Cannabis Law innovates marijuana-focused practice with new mental-health and team-culture focus areas.
From Indiana: Indianapolis-based Volvo Group subsidiary Mack Trucks expands battery-electric vehicle lineup with first medium-duty electric workhorse.
From California: San Francisco-based AI advertising platform Omneky introduces ChatGPT-powered Creative Assistant Tool for storyboarding, creative briefs and more.
ON THE MOVE
Aaron Choo
+ Aaron Choo has been appointed chairman-elect of Deer Park-based United Way of Long Island’s Board of Directors. He is vice president of National Grid’s Downstate New York gas field operations and programs in Melville.
+ Kevin Murphy has been promoted to executive dean for student engagement at Farmingdale State College. He previously served as director of health and wellness.
+ Tara Matz has been hired as chief nurse executive at Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson. She was senior director for patient care services at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park.
+ Sean Acosta Jr. has been hired as an associate at Garden City-based Rubin Paterniti Gonzalez Rizzo and Kaufman. He was vice president of the legal department at Plainview-based Property Tax Reductions Consultants.
+ Ted Schaper has been hired as a senior associate mechanical engineer at Ronkonkoma-based Emtec Consulting Engineers. He was a project manager at Virginia-based AdvanceTec Cleanroom.
+ Madelyn Haussner has been elected president of the Albany-based New York State Library Association’s Section of School Librarians. She is a librarian in Sachem High School North in Lake Ronkonkoma.
+ Melville-based Cahill Strategies has announced three promotions:
- Timothy Hurley, former vice president of communications, is now senior vice president.
- Kevin Moran, former director of client relations, is now vice president of construction solutions.
- Kaitlyn Cahill, former director of operations, is now vice president of operations.
+ Stony Brook University’s Division of Student Affairs has announced two promotions:
- Marisa Bisani, former assistant vice president for student health, wellness and prevention services, has been appointed associate vice president for health, wellness and prevention services.
- Marianna Savoca, former assistant vice president for career development & experiential education, has been appointed associate vice president for career readiness and experiential education.
+ Dawn McGrath has been promoted to assistant vice president of operations at Spring Valley-based Education Bus Transportation, which services several Nassau and Suffolk school districts. The Lindenhurst resident served previously as operations manager.
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 Presberg Law). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD
Ring around the time portal: It’s looking rosy, according to one Einstein disciple.
Past life: How rotating lasers can create backward time travel, for real.
Present tense: Why daylight savings is so hard on the body.
Near future: Computers powered by human brain cells?
Generational: Please continue supporting the amazing firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Presberg Law, which puts decades of experience into every real estate transaction. Check them out.
