Flight plan: Well done, intrepid innovators! You’ve soared through another red-eye workweek, with another two-day respite on final approach.
It’s Friday out there, and you’ve gotta wing it for just a few more busy hours before you land this thing. Here’s an inspirational innovation review to help the day fly by.
Howdy, partner: Before we deploy our flaps, congratulations to our good friends over at law firm Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz, a generous longtime sponsor (and home base of Voices Legal Anchor Michael Sahn) now known officially as Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz Coschignano. (Coschig-who? Read on.)
Enough to make you healthy: It looks sickening, but “green juice” is very healthful — even when you order it at Starbucks.
Ecology 101: Sahn Ward updates its masthead just in time for International Environmental Education Day, the United Nations’ annual Jan. 26 lesson plan encouraging deeper understanding of the natural world.
Coulda had a V8: Also going au naturel today is National Green Juice Day, a veggie-centric observance that seems pretty righteous, until you learn it’s a holiday invented by Starbucks.
Speaking of tough sells, today is also Dental Drill Appreciation Day, surely inspiring more odontophobia than appreciation every Jan. 26.
Lake country: Michiganders appreciated the opportunity on this date in 1837, when The Great Lakes State became the 26th admitted to the Union.
Towering achievement: Parisians were pleased on Jan. 26, 1887, when construction began on the famous Eiffel Tower, among the world’s most recognizable landmarks.
Get a piece of the rock: Soon cut into multiple pieces — several grace Britain’s famous Crown Jewels — the Cullinan Diamond blew away records when it was discovered in 1905.
In the rough: Other beauties associated with this date include the Cullinan Diamond, the world’s largest gem-quality diamond (an astonishing 3,106.75 carats), unearthed 119 years ago today in South Africa.
By air, by sea: Also leaving the Earth behind was daredevil pilot Glenn Curtiss, who completed the first successful “hydroaeroplane” flight – we’d call it a “seaplane” – off the coast of San Diego on this date in 1911.
Music of the night: And leaving all other musicals behind was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s blockbuster “The Phantom of the Opera,” which debuted on Broadway on Jan. 26, 1988.
Based on Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel “Le Fantôme de l’Opéra,” the unrivaled show – which actually debuted two years earlier in London (and is still bringing down the house at the London Theatre) – finally ended its record-setting Broadway run in April 2023, after surviving a COVID hiatus and racking up a phenomenal 13,981 performances.
Dugout Doug: United States Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) – an Army brat turned career military man who served in both World Wars and the Korean War, and is one of only five American officers to earn a five-star rank – would be 144 years old today. (Can you name the other four, without Googling? Answer below.)
Fearless flyer: Groundbreaking pilot Coleman shattered Earth’s surly bonds — and racial barriers.
Also born on Jan. 26 were American aviator Bessie Coleman (1892-1926), the first African American woman to earn a pilot’s license; Scottish chemist Alexander King (1909-2007), who founded the international think tank Club of Rome and pioneered environmental awareness; American actor, film director, racecar driver and entrepreneur Paul Newman (1925-2008), a Hollywood titan and legendary philanthropist; American film critic and journalist Eugene Kal Siskel (1946-1999), namesake of Chicago’s carefully curated Gene Siskel Film Center; and Canadian restaurateur, philanthropist and hockey legend Wayne Gretzky (born 1961), a true go-getter who famously noted “you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”
The Songstress: And take a bow, Anita Denise Baker! The silky-smooth American singer-songwriter – known best for a slew of soulful ballads in the 1980s and ’90s – turns 66 today.
Give the Best That You Got to the standout of R&B’s Quiet Storm era at editor@innovateli.com, where You Bring Me Us Joy with your news tips and we’re Caught Up in the Rapture of your calendar events (Just Because).
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
Running start: Stony Brook University’s Office of the Vice President of Research has bet high on research projects across a wide range of disciplines.
With peer-nominated investigators earning a total of $1 million, the Fall 2023 tranche marked only the second time the OVPR has hit seven figures in a single funding cycle, after a Summer 2022 spending spree. This time around, the awards – designed to give SBU faculty a competitive edge in securing external research funds by supporting preliminary work like proof-of-concept and feasibility studies – seeded 21 research projects in biomedical engineering, computer science, astronomy, linguistics and other cutting-edge fields.
Giving faculty a leg up in the hypercompetitive race for government grants and other outside funding “represents an investment in our university’s future,” noted Interim VP for Research Miguel Garcia-Diaz, and a lucrative one at that. “Research is at the core of Stony Brook University’s identity,” Garcia-Diaz noted. “It is a key engine to fuel the progress of our research enterprise and has historically resulted in a return of upward of $7 in external awards for each dollar invested by the university.”
All the comforts of home: State-of-the-art post-partum suites await new mothers and their families at South Shore University Hospital.
Born to serve: South Shore University Hospital has finally cut the ribbon on its expansive (and expensive) Women and Children’s Center.
The $71 million, 45,560-square-foot “hospital-within-a-hospital” (originally scheduled to open in late 2022) boasts a new labor-and-delivery theater, a state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit, a post-anesthesia recovery unit, two new operating rooms and obstetrical-triage beds staffed round-the-clock by doctors and nurses – everything Northwell Health’s busy Bay Shore facility needs to provide “exceptional care for mothers and newborns,” according to SSUH Executive Director Irene Macyk. Among the bells and whistles: a new da Vinci robotic surgical system for minimally invasive gynecologic procedures and 29 post-partum suites packed with creature comforts (flatscreen televisions, convertible sofa-beds for visitors, private showers and more).
The Women and Children’s Center is part of Northwell Health’s multiyear, $500 million SSUH overhaul, aimed at improving hospital services and quality of care. “This new facility … signifies a dedication to fostering a nurturing environment where the journey into parenthood is supported with compassion and cutting-edge medical expertise,” Macyk noted. “The commitment Northwell Health has made to the people of Suffolk County is incredible.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Let’s make a deal: With a new state contract blowing in the wind, Danish conglomerate Ørsted A/S is looking to acquire longtime partner Eversource Energy’s 50-percent stake in the ambitious Sunrise Wind project.
Thank you, in advance: A quick note of thanks to our newsletter subscribers, without whom we’d have no sponsors, and no engaging and entertaining newsletter to share with you three times a week. Support the cause with your own subscription – always easy, always free.
ICYMI
With severe storms piling up, Albany is pouring millions of dollars into coastal repair and resiliency efforts around Long island – and pressuring the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to stop wasting time.
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: San Francisco-based personal-care pacesetter Method unleashes the “transformational power of the shower” with new creative-care platform.
From Virginia: Burke-based wellness/fitness coach Nanda Semenyuk brings hypopressive breathing to the masses with innovative online programming.
From Canada, eh: Edmonton-based medical marijuana maker Aurora Cannabis delivers taste (and potency) with new pot-infused beverage line.
ON THE MOVE
Elisabetta Coschignano
+ Elisabetta Coschignano has become a member of Uniondale-based Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz Coschignano PLLC. She was a partner concentrating in the areas of zoning and land-use planning.
+ Jon Ward has been elevated to co-managing member of Uniondale-based Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz Coschignano PLLC. He is chairman of the firm’s Litigation and Appeals Practice Group.
+ Kerri Anne Scanlon has been named executive director of Northwell Health’s Plainview and Syosset hospitals. The registered nurse is also executive director of Glen Cove Hospital.
+ Niraj Desai has been named director of the Kidney Transplant Program at the Northwell Health Transplant Institute. He was director of the Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Program at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Maryland.
+ Emily Ladau has been hired as editor of Able Newspaper at the Albertson-based Viscardi Center. She was sole proprietor of Words I Wheel By Communication Strategies.
+ Vincent Calvosa has been elected chairman of the Islandia-based Long Island Builders Institute’s Board of Directors. He is president of The Calvosa Organization in Holbrook.
+ Kelly Spina has been promoted to partner at Melville-based Littler Mendelson. She was an associate.
+ Peter Scully has been hired as director of business development at Hayduk Engineering in Port Jefferson Station. He previously served as deputy Suffolk County executive.
+ Josh Gladstone has been promoted to creative director at Local TV Inc. in East Hampton. He was an associate producer.
+ Bridget Fleming has been hired as vice president of economic development and land use at Melville-based McBride Consulting and Business Development Group. She is a former Suffolk County legislator.
+ Lawrence Han has been promoted to partner at Uniondale-based Rivkin Radler. He was an associate.
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 (Random Homonym Edition)
Knot’s landing: Behold, the golden trefoil … the smallest and tightest knot ever tied.
Not: Deep-fake robocalls are a really big problem.
Knot: Behold, the world’s smallest knot (just 54 atoms!).
Naught: Sadly, we’ll never see college football’s clever “Irrelevant Bowl.”
Not gonna lie – they’re awesome: Please continue supporting the amazing institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including St. Joseph’s University, a top-tier school where character development paces academic achievement. Check them out.
Generally speaking: Joining MacArthur as five-star U.S. Army generals are George Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower, Henry Arnold and Omar Bradley. For the record, two men have been named “General of the Armies of the United States,” the equivalent of a six-star rank – George Washington and John Jay Pershing. Thanks for playing.
