Last chance to view Building the Ballot Box at the Long Island Museum. The exhibit closes on May 18. Photo courtesy of LIM
By Heidi Sutton
On International Museum Day, Sunday, May 18, the Long Island Museum in Stony Brook is partnering with The Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington and the Whaling Museum in Cold Spring Harbor to celebrate the important roles museums and other cultural institutions play in our communities.
At the Long Island Museum, 1200 Route 25A, Stony Brook, visitors can enjoy free admission to the museum from noon to 5 p.m., special “I Love Long Island Museums” buttons (while supplies last), and receive 10% off your purchase at the Gift Shop. This will also be the last day to view Building the Ballot Box: Long Island’s Democratic History and the Colors of Long Island student art exhibition in the History Museum. www.longislandmuseum.org
At the Heckscher Museum, 2 Prime Ave., Huntington, visitors will enjoy free admission to view exhibitions Robert Graham Carter: The Art of Reflection and Long Island’s Best 2025 from noon to 5 p.m. Take home a free button and tote bag too while supplies last. www.heckscher.org
And over at the Whaling Museum, 301 Main St., Cold Spring Harbor, visitors will receive a complimentary pin for every paid admssion, library passes included from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Available in five different designs, the special pins are the Museum’s way of thanking the community for their support. Visitors can view the Monsters & Mermaids exhibit, make up-cycled ocean crafts, take part in a Release the Kraken scavenger hunt and tour the museum’s exhibits. www.cshwhalingmuseum.org
Esther Takeuchi. Photo by Roger Stoutenburgh/Brookhaven National Laboratory
By Daniel Dunaief
Daniel Dunaief
Esther Takeuchi has won numerous awards and received plenty of honors for her work.
In 2009, President Barack Obama presented her with a National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest honor possible for technological achievement in the country.
She has also been elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,received the 2013 E.V. Murphree Award in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry from the American Chemical Society and was selected as a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, among others.
Takeuchi, who has over 150 patents to her name and is Distinguished Professor in Materials Science and Chemical Engineering at Stony Brook University and Chair of the Interdisciplinary Science Department at Brookhaven National Laboratory, spoke with Times Beacon Record News Media about a range of topics.
“In the long run, I think energy storage can significantly improve energy availability and affordability,” said Takeuchi. “We end up throwing a lot of [energy] away.”
Indeed, in a widely cited statistic based on a 2021 study, 65 percent of energy produced is thrown away. Energy from any source, whether it’s fossil fuels, sunlight, wind or nuclear, is inefficient, with losses from heat, limitations on technology, friction with machinery and incomplete combustion, among a host of factors.
“Let’s use it more effectively, where we can follow the load,” urged Takeuchi.
At the same time, Takeuchi recognizes the importance of ensuring the safety of energy storage, including for the proposed storage facilities in Setauket.
“The Fire Department and police need to be brought into the discussion,” she said. “A lot of these folks are extremely knowledgeable.”
Community education, involvement and awareness is necessary for any such project, ensuring that the appropriate people are informed and know how to respond to any crisis.
Energy needs
Future energy needs are considerably higher than they are today, thanks to the demands of artificial intelligence.
Large data centers that house the kinds of information necessary for AI are “incredibly power hungry,” Takeuchi said. If AI continues to expand at the current pace, it alone will use more energy than the world makes today.
“We need to have broader sources of energy” so it is available, she added. “Where is going to come from?”
Indeed, Takeuchi and her collaborators are working on energy storage that doesn’t use the kind of lithium-ion batteries that power much of consumer electronics. Lithium ion batteries are compact and are highly reactive, packing energy into a small volume. If something goes wrong, these batteries are flammable.
“We are working on a project at Stony Brook and Brookhaven National Laboratory where we’ve demonstrated electrolytes that don’t burn at all,” she said. “You can put a butane lighter on them and they won’t burn.”
To be sure, these batteries, which would be larger than the current systems, are a “long way” from commercialization, but it’s possible.
Still, Takeuchi is excited about rechargeable water-based batteries. She’s focused on making sure the materials are elements that are used broadly, instead of exotic materials mined in only one place on Earth. She’s also looking to create a cycle life that’s as high as possible.
Aqueous materials have a lower cycle life. She and her team are trying to understand why and overcome those challenges, which would enable these batteries to be recharged more times before degrading.
Funding environment
The current funding environment for science and technology has reached an uncertain time, Takeuchi said.
“One of the ways the United States has been so effective at competing economically on a global level is through science and technology,” she said. During many decades, the country has been an innovation leader as measured by the number of patents issued.
Driven by the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb, by frenzied competition with the Soviet Union after the launch of Sputnik in October of 1957 amid the Cold War, and by the drive to send people to the moon in the 1960’s, the country has attracted top talent from around the world while making important discoveries and creating new technology. Realizing that science and technology is a driver of future commercial and economic growth, other countries have been actively recruiting scientists concerned about the future funding landscape to their countries. This creates the potential for a brain drain.
If the United States gives up its leadership position when other nations are charging ahead, it could take a long time to recover the current standing, not to mention to mirror the successes and personal and professional opportunities from previous generations, said Takeuchi.
“Science is critical to lead us to the future we all want to live in,” she added.
The worlds of art and politics might seem quite separate, but here is a life that bridges them both. Two lives, in fact.
In one of those chance happenings that amounts to little more than a footnote but turns the tide of history, William Luers became the new ambassador to Czechoslovakia in 1983. It was a time of tumult in the Soviet-bloc country, as the unlikelypoet-playwright, Vaclav Havel, was leading a peaceful uprising to oust the Communist state. Havel was in and out of prison and appeared to be a long-shot among other dissidents to triumph against the Soviets. Nonetheless Luers recognized the potential of the cultural leader and contributed to his very survival and political successes that resulted in the independence of Czechoslovakia in 1989 and the subsequent creation of the Czech Republic.
In betting on Havel, Luers was in fact recognizing the pairing of politics and art that informed his own life.
Luers was born in Springfield, Illinois, and attended high school there, where he played basketball with a distinct advantage. He was exceptionally tall. After majoring in chemistry and math and graduating from Hamilton College in upstate New York, he went on to switch to the humanities and study philosophy at Northwestern University, then joined the Navy. It was 1952 and the United States was at war with Korea. After graduating from officers’ candidate school and being discharged in 1957, he entered the Foreign Service and in 1958 earned a master’s degree in Russian Studies from Columbia University. He spoke fluent Russian, Spanish and Italian, and worked at embassies in Moscow, Rome and other capitals in Europe and Latin America. Before he went to Czechoslovakia, he was ambassador to Venezuela.
His most important post was his last. He protected Havel by inviting dozens of American cultural celebrities to visit Prague, and after meeting the playwright, “then at news conferences outside the reach of the government-controlled Czech news media, recast him in a protective armor of global publicity,” according to The New York Times. By burnishing Havel’s name “as a writer but not as a statesman, which might have increased Havel’s perils,” continued The Times’ reporter Luer saved him.
Some of the celebrity visitors included John Updike, Edward Albee, E.L. Doctorow, Kurt Vonnegut, William Styron, Philippe de Montebello, director of New York’s Metropolitan Museum, theater director Joseph Papp, abstract painter Richard Diebenkorn and Katharine Graham, publisher of The Washington Post.
Since Luers came from a culturally prominent family, many of these people were his friends and they understood their purpose in visiting. “The underlying message…was that harming Mr. Havel might risk incalculable international consequences for the Czech government,” according to The Times. In fact, Luers used the arts to promote, protect and ultimately elect Vaclav Havel as leader of the Czech Republic.
After 29 years in the Foreign Service, during which time he became an aide to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (and in 1974 personally delivered President Nixon’s resignation letter over the Watergate scandal to him), Luers went on to be president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for 13 years. Like Havel, the arc of his life spanned politics and art.
William Luers died this past Saturday, May 10, in his home in Washington Depot, Connecticut, at the age of 95. His greatest satisfaction was the success of Vaclav Havel, according to The Times. “The Communist system was deeply flawed. It underestimated cultural leaders’ influence on the people.”
GSA Troop 833 during a recent clean-up of the PJS/Setauket Greenway Trail. Photo from Herb Mones
KEEP BROOKHAVEN BEAUTIFUL and Keep America Beautiful, Inc., in cooperation with Supervisor Panico and the Town of Brookhaven, invite you to join the Great American CleanupTM. Every spring, individuals and groups join the Great American Cleanup, the nation’s largest organized cleanup, beautification, and community improvement program.
The facts on litter are sobering. According to the most recent litter study there are more than 50 billion pieces of litter on the ground. That’s 152 pieces of litter for every American. But there is good news. In the past ten years, littering along US roadways is down 54%! Last year alone, over 64,000 clean-up events were held in the US, resulting in over 146,600 ACRES of parks, public lands, waterways, trails and playgrounds cleaned up by volunteers like YOU!
So, don’t wait for someone else to do it…pick a location…and volunteer for this year’s Great Brookhaven Cleanup! Join thousands of Brookhaven residents to help make Brookhaven … a cleaner, greener, more beautiful Town!
Identify a specific site that you would like to improve.
Visit the site to plan your event and get permission from the property owner if necessary.
Possible activities:
Litter cleanups on streets, parks, playgrounds
River, lake and seashore cleanups
Nature trails, woodland trails and field cleanups
School cleanups
Commercial Site / Shopping Center cleanups
Beautification / community improvement projects
Recruit family members, friends or neighbors to help.
Several organized events will be taking part in this year’s clean up including:
Farmingville
Farmingvile Residents Association will hold its 19th annual Spring Clean-Up at Triangle Park, corner of Woodycrest Drive and Horseblock Road, Farmingville from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Supplies will be provided. 631-260-7411
Lake Ronkonkoma
Lake Ronkonkoma Improvement Group hosts a clean-up of Lake Ronkonkoma on May 17 at 10 a.m. Meet at Michael Murphy Park. Call 631-451-6222 for more info.
Port Jefferson Station
— The Port Jefferson Station-Terryville Chamber of Commerce is teaming up with the Port Jefferson Rotary Club and Old Town Blooms for a clean up of at the PJST Chamber Train Car, corner of Route 112 and Nesconset Highway in Port Jefferson on Saturday, May 17 from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.; Jayne Blvd, behind D & D from 10 a.m. to noon; and any area along Old Town Road, Crowley, School St, Block Blvd or Yale Street Parks from noon to 5 p.m. (on your own). 631-821-1313
— Three Village Community Trust’s Friends of the Greenway will hold a Setauket to Port Jeff. Station Greenway clean-up on Saturday, May 17 at 9 a.m. It will start at the Port Jefferson Station trailhead at NYSDOT parking lot by Routes 112 & 25A. www.threevillagecommunitytrust.org
*If any organization would like to add their event to this list, please email [email protected]
'The Foamies' by Jonathan Spector will be on view at Gallery North through June 22. Image courtesy of Gallery North
Up next at Gallery North, 90 North Country Road, Setauket is their annual The Winner’s Circle exhibition celebrating the award-winning artists of the 2024 Outdoor Art Show and Music Festival.
The Winner’s Circle exhibition features recipients of the Best in Show award and best in categories including mixed media, fiber art, jewelry, painting, photography, and pottery at the 2024 Outdoor Art Show and Music Festival hosted every September by GalleryNorth. Featuring some of the finest art and craft from regional artists and artisans over its long 60-year history, the festival is a vital part of the regional art community and a significant tradition for the public. The 2024 festival judges, Nina Sangimino, Curator of the Long Island Museum in Stony Brook; Frances Campani, painter and associate professor of architecture at the NY Institute of Technology, and contemporary artist, Scott Farrell evaluated over 80 exhibitors to present the 14 available awards.
This exhibition is generously sponsored by the Field Family, Pet ER 24/7, Jefferson’s Ferry, and Suffolk County’s Department of Economic Development and Planning.
On view from May 15 to June 22, the exhibition features works by artists Paul Speh, Cassandra Voulo, Laura and Dennis Kemple, Juan Cruz Reverberi, William Demaria, Galina Carroll, Jessamyn Go, Chloe Wang, Cassandra Hussey, Susan Rodgers, Mary Jane van Zeijts, Jonathan Spector, Ash Garcia-Diaz, Sophia Syritsyna, and Eileen Cassidy.
The community is invited to an opening reception on Thursday, May 15 from6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Meet the artists and view their work, and enjoy live music by Kane Daily. Refreshments will be served. For more information, call 631-751-2676 or visit www.gallerynorth.org.
Joe Salamone, Founder & Exec Dir, Long Island Coalition Against Bullying, at Governor Hochul's press conference on May 13.
The Long Island Coalition Against Bullying (LICAB) joined New York Governor Kathy Hochul in Farmingdale on May 13 to celebrate the newly announced K-12 bell-to-bell cell phone ban, a major component of the state budget expected to pass in Albany. This first-of-its-kind measure makes New York the largest state in the nation to adopt a school-day cell phone ban, and LICAB hails it as a transformative win for student safety and well-being.
The new policy prohibits student cell phone use throughout the school day – from the first bell to the last – across all New York State public schools. It is designed to reduce distractions, protect students from cyberbullying, and restore in-person connection and focus in classrooms.
At the press conference, LICAB Founder & Executive Director Joe Salamone spoke alongside Governor Hochul to highlight the policy’s impact and the years of advocacy leading to this moment.
“Smartphones are valuable tools, but without limits, they do real harm. We see it every day. Bullying no longer hides in stairways. It happens in group chats, in videos recorded without consent, often memorializing what should have been fleeting moments,” said Salamone. “Today, we begin restoring something essential – real childhood, real social growth, and real community.”
Founded in 2013, LICAB is the region’s only nonprofit solely dedicated to preventing and addressing bullying. The organization has long advocated for statewide protections for students, including its support of last year’s Safe For Kids Act, also championed by Governor Hochul.
Salamone noted the positive impact of similar cell phone restrictions already in place in select schools across Long Island.
“In over 200 classroom visits I made this school year alone, administrators who’ve implemented similar bans estimate an 85% reduction in bullying and peer conflict. The results speak for themselves – this is no longer theory, it’s proven,” he added.
The policy gives local school districts the flexibility to implement the ban in a way that fits their unique communities, while ensuring a uniform standard of safety and focus for all students statewide.
“Come September, students all across New York will walk into schools no longer tethered to the pressures of their phones,” said Salamone. “They will be freer – freer to learn, to connect, and to thrive. This is not just policy, it’s progress. It’s protection. And today, thanks to Governor Hochul, it’s a reality.”
For more information about the Long Island Coalition Against Bullying and its mission, visit www.licab.org.
About LICAB:
The Long Island Coalition Against Bullying is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to emphasizing the importance of bully-free communities on Long Island through education, increased awareness, and therapeutic support for children and families. LICAB’s services include school programming, family advocacy, peer support groups, and community education.
The Smithtown Library's Main Branch reopened the first floor on May 5. Photo by Sabrina Artusa
For eight months, the Smithtown library’s Main Branch on North Country Road was closed. Readers were able to visit other branches, but the library is more than just a place to exchange books.
The library is certainly a hub of ideas and information, full of fiction, nonfiction and history. It is also an essential resource for those who need to use a computer but don’t have one, or would like access to free wifi. One of the few places where economic class doesn’t play a role, the library provides a haven with no spending expectations. You can learn how to play mahjong or fold a piece of paper into an intricate origami figure. Gardening clubs and sewing clubs meet regularly. Offering a podcast and community room, the library provided the setting for numerous friendly conversations.
Walking through the doors again on May 5, patrons are greeted by friendly staff. In the entrance corridor, a television plays recordings from the destructive rains of August 19 and a sped-up recording of the subsequent work. In one recording, water pushes furniture and shelves around like toys. Books float away and out of the recording. In another, the murky brown water slowly fills the hall until suddenly, the pressure pushes out the wall. In a picture, books lay in piles across the floor–any reader would cringe at the sight. The library is back though, and will return fully in coming months, with the bottom and second floors open and services and programs once again available. However, the status of libraries is precarious as the administration looks to cut funding.
When the Smithtown building closed, many card-holders travelled to other branches. When the federal government began eliminating grants to libraries, we imagined what we would do without an accessible library.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is not guaranteed. While libraries will still exist without the small federal agency, which only employed around 70 people and from the perspective of the federal government is unnecessary, they may not receive grants for programming or internships. Recently, a judge blocked a move to place its employees on temporary leave, giving the institute a reprieve. However, the agency is still at risk of getting washed out; it is possible resources and programs will get carried away by the swift stream of government efficiency.
In the meantime though, the wonderful librarians and administrators at the Smithtown library are ensuring that residents have access to the wealth of knowledge inside.
Anissa Abi-Dargham, MD. Photo by Jeanne Neville, Stony Brook Medicine
Anissa Abi-Dargham, MD, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Radiology, and the Lourie Endowed Chair of the Department Psychiatry and Behavioral Health in the Renaissance School of Medicine (RSOM) at Stony Brook University, will receive the 2025 Award for Research in Psychiatry from the American Psychiatric Association (APA).
According to the APA, the Award for Research in Psychiatry recognizes a single distinguished contribution, a body of work, or a lifetime contribution that has had a major impact on the field and/or altered the practice of psychiatry.
Dr. Abi-Dargham is being recognized by the APA with the Award for Research in Psychiatry for her distinguished contributions over her career to schizophrenia research, which has had a major impact on the field. She will receive the award at the APA’s annual meeting on May 19 in Los Angeles.
“I am very honored and grateful to receive this award and be able to present the work of many trainees and collaborators I have had the privilege to work with over the course of my career,” says Dr. Abi-Dargham, also Associate Dean and Associate Vice President for Clinical and Translational Science at the RSOM.
“It is a pleasure to work with such talented and dedicated scientists and to contribute to the discovery process,” she adds. “This award is very meaningful, particularly at a time when research is facing many challenges.”
At Stony Brook since 2016, Dr. Abi-Dargham’s clinical and research expertise is in molecular imaging, pharmacology, schizophrenia, and addiction. The broad focus of her research within the RSOM is to advance the understanding of the neurobiology of severe mental illness, with one approach being investigation of molecular markers and their functional significance as measured with multi-modal imaging approaches.
The Setauket resident also oversees a multidisciplinary team with expertise in several types of neuroimaging techniques used in tandem to address important questions about brain mechanisms and schizophrenia.
During the APA annual meeting, Dr. Abi-Dargham will deliver a lecture to the nation’s APA members titled “Misfiring signals: Dopamine Dysfunction in Schizophrenia – From Neural Pathways to Behavioral Manifestations.”
The Suffolk County Police Department will hold a property auction at the Property Section, located at 30 Yaphank Ave. in Yaphank on Wednesday, May 14. The auction will begin at 9 a.m. and will be held rain or shine. There will be a preview of jewelry and select property from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Among the items being auctioned are jewelry, handbags power tools, electronics, and bicycles. Participants must be at least 18 years old to bid. All items are sold in “as is” condition and must be purchased with cash. www.suffolkpd.org
The Emma S. Clark Library is temporarily closed after staff noticed a strange odor on May 1. The smell was from a mold growth in a “contained area” of the Library, necessitating repairs to the HVAC system.
The mold, Cladosporium, is described by the National Institute of Health as one of the “most common fungal inhabitants worldwide”. It appears as black or brown spots in a wide variety of conditions and surfaces such as carpets, HVAC grills, wallpaper or wood surfaces, and is particularly drawn to damp, not well-ventilated places like bathrooms or basements.
The library will continue online zoom classes on the usual schedule, but will extend holds and due dates of books, museum passes and items. The prolonged possession of library property will not accrue late fees and holds will be extended for one week past the date of reopening. The library will reopen once air quality tests confirm the mold’s eradication. The library card can be used at any Suffolk County library.
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