As New Ventures and Licensing Associate, Cortney is responsible for assisting Princeton faculty and researchers in moving their work out of the lab and into the marketplace and wider society. This goal is accomplished through the management of intellectual property, preparation of commercialization strategies, and support of startups built around technologies from the University.

While completing her PhD at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in organic chemistry, Cortney began her career in tech transfer as an intern in the Office of Technology Commercialization. After a brief industrial postdoc, she took on the role of Licensing Officer at the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Center for Innovation (PCI) where she managed technologies from the Schools of Engineering and Arts & Science. Cortney spent three years at PCI before beginning her current position at Princeton in 2022.