(East Setauket, NY) The North Shore community gathered together and joined the Time Beacon Record Newspapers Networking Event and Reception honoring Dr. Yacov Shamash Vice President of Economic Development at Stony Brook University on Thursday, April 28, 2016 at the Gold Coast Bank in East Setauket, New York.
John C. Tsunis, Esq., Chairman, founder and CEO of Gold Coast Bank was present to introduce notable elected officials and helped in presenting the various citations and awards to Dr. Shamash. Mr. Tsunis founded the law firm of Tsunis Gasparis Lustig Ring & Kenney, LLP, served as Managing Partner through October of 2014 and remains Special Counsel. Additionally, he is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Long Island Hotels LLC. Among many philanthropic endeavors.
Gold Coast members present award to Dr. Yacov Shamash.
Dr. Shamash is Vice President for Economic Development and Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Stony Brook University. As Vice President, a position he has held since 2000, Dr. Shamash supervises the University’s three incubators, two New York State Centers for Advanced Technology, the NYS Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT), the Small Business Development Center, and the workforce development programs of the Center for Emerging Technologies. The College of Engineering and Applied Sciences has over 1,500 undergraduate and 900 graduate students. In 1994 he led the effort by SUNY’s engineering schools to create the highly successful state-wide SPIR program (Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence). During the past ten years, working through the SPIR program, the College has partnered with more than 220 companies to assist them with more than 1,150 projects.
Gold Coast Bank Manager Olga Prado Belleau with Cognac.
Dr. Shamash is a member of the Board of Directors of the Long Island Software & Technology Network (LISTnet) and the Long Island Forum for Technology (LIFT). He serves on the boards of Keytronic, American Medical Alert, Netsmart Technologies, and Invision.com. Prior to joining Stony Brook, Dr. Shamash served as Director of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Washington State University and was responsible for the establishment of a National Science Foundation Industry/University Center for the Design of Analog/Digital Integrated Circuits. He has held faculty positions at Florida Atlantic University, the University of Pennsylvania and Tel Aviv University. A Fellow of the IEEE, he received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Imperial College of Science and Technology in London, England, and has authored more than 130 publications.
Before the award and citation was presented, I sat down with Dr. Yacov Shamash and he expressed his appreciation.
Cognac: Welcome back darlings, I am Cognac Wellerlane and we are here at the Gold Coast Bank in Setauket, New York right here on 25A on the North Shore and I am here with Dr. Yakov Shamash, Vice President of Economic Development of Stonybrook University and he is receiving a very wonderful award. I would like to ask you Dr. Dr. Shamash what does this award mean to you?
Dr. Shamash: Well it means a lot… recognition by the business community here on Long Island and in the area… recognition by the bank which is very much appreciated.
There are so many people here tonight that are so happy that you are receiving this award. Can you tell my audience a little bit about this award what it means?
Dr. Shamash: It means a lot to me because a lot of the people that are here… we have worked with over the years. I have been on Long Island for the past twenty five years. I have been working with some of the people that I have seen outside. It brings back great memories but more importantly it is companies that we have worked with that we have helped and they have helped us over the years. These are great partnerships and I very much appreciate the bank doing this because it brings people together and that is very important. This is a community bank and that is what they are trying to do.
Tell my audience exactly what you do for those out there who are unaware.
Dr. Shamash: What we try to do is bring the resources of the University to work with companies, partner with companies to try and promote development of new products We try to help them obtain federal funding to support their work and that we have been doing for many, many years and we will continue to do that.
Cognac Interviews Dr. Shamash.
Do you have any specific goals for the year coming up for 2016… of course the year is almost half gone. We are half way through it.
Dr. Shamash: Yes we are half way through it. I am looking forward to continuing doing what we are doing. I am looking forward to working with the bank to try and develop relationships between the companies and promote economic growth for Long Island. That is very important to us because in the end we need to create jobs on Long Island. We need to keep the jobs that we have and by working all together leveraging each others resources we can really make things happen.
Absolutely and you know of course that is what Long Island Media is all about. Longisland.com partners with many companies and organizations right here on Long Island. We are a Long Island based website. We are very popular. We are the third most viewed website on Long Island. Can you tell my audience we can go to find our more information about Stonybrook University.
Dr. Shamash: You can certainly go to the website–StonyBrook.edu– and you will see everything about the university: the academic programs and the research programs and all kinds of things that you would want to know about Stony Brook. There is a section also for economic development. There are many programs that we have in economic development. This is an area of the University that helps companies in multiple ways.
My goodness that is wonderful. How many programs do you have at Stony Brook?
Dr. Shamash: We probably have about sixty, seventy undergraduate programs… I don’t know the number exactly but if you add up the masters and PhD’s we probably have a couple of hundred programs.
Cognac Interviews Jim Johnis.
The event was sponsored by the Gold Coast Bank. All banks are not the same although they may initially appear to be. At Gold Coast Bank you’ll experience the difference as soon as you walk through one of our doors. Through their desire to know and understand your business they are readily equipped to respond to your needs: from cash management to credit lines and loans to merchant and payroll services – all of these and more can be scaled to fit your needs as a business on Long Island.
For more information please visit GoldCoastBankNY.com.
