Suffolk is my home. It’s where I raised my two children, both proud graduates of Ward Melville HS. For over twenty years, I taught at Stony Brook University, and I served as the Chair of the Chemistry Department. For years, I’ve fought to protect children, supporting research on the effects of screens on kids and founding a nonprofit to improve local schools. Suffolk is where I built my life.

  

FROM SMALL BUSINESS ROOTS TO PROMOTING ENTREPRENEURSHIP

 

My parents were small business owners. For them, work didn’t start at 9 and end at 5. My parents brought their work home with them every night - the same phones rang at the office and at our house, the envelopes were stuffed at our dining room table and the worry of payroll hung over both their heads. I got to see first-hand how exhilarating it is to close a big deal, hire a new employee, and grow a small business in the town where you live. I know that small businesses and innovation are the engines of our economy. That’s why I collaborated with partners at Stony Brook to develop programs in entrepreneurship to create good-paying jobs in Suffolk. I helped students launch careers in engineering, biomedical research, patient care and entrepreneurial endeavors. In Congress, I’ll fight for our families and small businesses to have an economy we deserve.

 

FIGHTING TO PROTECT LONG ISLAND

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Climate change is wreaking havoc on Long Island. That’s why, in my research lab at Stony Brook, we worked to create new organic semiconductors, and studied how they could make solar energy more affordable and attainable. Rising energy costs have made it even more clear that we need affordable energy alternatives to protect the environment and save Long Islanders’ money. It's also why, as Chair, my department secured over $22 million in funding from the US Department of Energy for two Energy Frontier Research Centers to increase renewable energy production and storage  – steps vital to combating climate change and bringing down energy costs.

 

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

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At Stony Brook, I fought to provide healthcare for the university’s researchers because the high cost of healthcare is one of the ways our current economy stifles innovation and entrepreneurship. Bringing down the cost of healthcare will ease the burden on Suffolk families and spur economic growth across the board. 

 

When MAGA extremists were trying to ban books, I brought people together to stop them, founding a local nonprofit to protect our kids and strengthen our public schools. Together, we defeated 20 Moms for Liberty MAGA school board candidates – keeping them out of our schools and keeping their dangerous ideas from harming our kids.

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GOING TO CONGRESS TO GET THINGS DONE.

 

Whether in my work at Stony Brook or in my community, I know no one has a monopoly on good ideas. To find the solutions Suffolk needs we must do what Congress won’t: listen, work together, and actually get things done.