Join us for this session of Postdoc Success Talks (Pst!) featuring Chelsea Ex-Lubeskie, R&D Partnerships Manager for UK Innovate, and Eric Hartman, Senior Associate Director, Ecosystem for UK Innovate. They will share their professional journeys, discuss how to start building a company from scratch, and offer insights into how postdocs can learn the entrepreneurial mindset and get involved in entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship
Pst! Listen!
Postdoc Success Talks is a professional development series designed to amplify the career readiness and personal growth of postdocs (and PhDs) at the University of Kentucky. Each session spotlights practical insights and diverse career pathways—from industry to entrepreneurship, science policy, and beyond. Whether you're exploring teaching opportunities, navigating professional etiquette, or learning about fellowships and consulting, Postdoc Success Talks is your invitation to listen, learn, and launch your next step.
⬇️ Registration below ⬇️
Entrepreneurship Curious about starting a new business?
Chelsea Ex-Lubeskie
Chelsea Ex-Lubeskie is an R&D Partnerships Manager for UK Innovate. She provides focused and dedicated support to advancing impactful innovation and research industry partnerships for the College of Medicine and UK HealthCare.
Previously, Chelsea worked on the Business Development team at Cresilon, Inc. a medical device startup in New York where she managed their intellectual (IP) portfolio, key supplier relationships, and strategic business opportunities. Before Cresilon, Chelsea served as the Business Development Manager at the Foundation for Research Development, the Medical University of South Carolina’s technology transfer office. In her role, she managed the overall startup company program and the SBIR/STTR granting program for MUSC faculty startups. Additionally, she evaluated a portion of MUSC medical device inventions for commercial potential, managed the protection of IP, marketed technologies to prospective industry partners and negotiated options and license agreements. Chelsea holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in bioengineering from Clemson University and is a former entrepreneur and co-founder of Tarian Orthotics, LLC.
Eric Hartman
Eric is the Senior Associate Director, Ecosystem for UK Innovate at the University of Kentucky, where he is focused on working with university innovators, startups, and entrepreneurs from across Kentucky in the areas of ideation, lean startup principles, deep-tech commercialization, corporate engagement, strategic planning, startup formation and early-stage dilutive and non-dilutive funding. His team includes Invest Blue.
Before joining the University of Kentucky, Eric served as program director for the Kentucky SBIR/STTR Matching Funds Program at Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation. He was previously co-founder and president of customKYnetics, Inc., a medical device startup company developing novel rehabilitation technologies for the physical therapy market. Eric served as principal investigator on 22 grants awarded to customKYnetics from the National Institutes of Health and the Commonwealth of Kentucky, totaling nearly $9 million. He was the lead inventor on six issued U.S. patents, led multidisciplinary engineering/research and development teams and secured partnerships with leading research universities for clinical research. Eric received a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and a Master of Science in biomedical engineering, both from the University of Kentucky.
Registration
Registration is required and you can attend in person (bring your own lunch - refreshments provided) OR you can attend online (via Zoom).
Registration closes on January 13, 2026 at midnight.