Innovation @ Adelphi

By Samantha Stainburn

On a typical workday, you’ll find Joseph DiLallo ’08 and Nick Miceli ’12 writing computer code in an open-plan office that has whiteboard walls, ladders between floors, a collection of 1980s video game machines and free cappuccinos on demand.

The two twentysomethings are software engineers for Google Inc. who work out of the company’s New York City office in Chelsea. They’re part of different teams helping to develop and refine software that lets people communicate with the Internet search and communications company’s products and services.

Meanwhile, on the Upper East Side, Barbara A. Sawitsky ’75, M.B.A. ’78, spends her days reading scientific studies and poring over invention disclosures, patents and legal agreements. As director of the New York Blood Center’s Office of Patents & Licensing & Business Development, she’s constantly looking for ways to help turn the basic research done at NYBC’s Lindsley F. Kimball Research Institute’s 15 laboratories into new products and methods that companies will want to license and commercialize.

While these alums work in very different environments in very different fields, they’re engaged in the same activity…

Joseph DiLallo ’08 and Nick Miceli ’12
Mr. DiLallo and Mr. Miceli are Google software engineers writing computer code to develop and refine Internet search and communications.

Lionel Viret ’95
In the fast-changing healthcare sector, the ability to innovate is key to an organization’s survival. “We constantly have to anticipate, think, change and adapt to the new environments.”

Stephanie Nowak ’10, M.A. ’12, and Stevan Franeta ’11
Adelphi alumni are part of a thriving company that produces 3D printers that make prosthetics and other life-changing innovations.

Brian McGovern ’87, M.S.W. ’89
As a social worker who specializes in issues around HIV and AIDS, Mr. McGovern has had to find ways to reinvent what his organization does as the public’s understanding of the disease fades in and out.

Barbara A. Sawitsky ’75, M.B.A. ’78
Ms. Sawitsky is director of the Office of Patents & Licensing & Business Development at the New York Blood Center. “My skills are in seeing opportunities where someone doesn’t see an opportunity.”

Anton Soradoi ’10
In the three short years since he graduated, Mr. Soradoi has consulted for Google and now leads technology development at 1000 Passions, a startup company that arranges unique tours and experiences.