Chris Kanik: Smart Cups

A highly dynamic leader whose rare blend of passion, imagination, diverse education and experiences makes him an iconoclastic entrepreneur.

Born and raised in Union City, New Jersey, Kanik’s creative and entrepreneurial spirit can be directly attributed to being the first generation born of immigrant parents. Having experienced first-hand the struggles and inequalities that exist among socio-economic classes, Chris has always been drawn to disrupting the status quo and designing better solutions to systems.

Chris is a thoughtful leader with a unique balance of analytical and interpersonal skills. He has over 25 years experience as a laboratory science researcher. He first entered a lab at age 12 to study the chemical degradation of aspartame in diet sodas over extended storage periods at room temperature. At 14, he joined a research team in the Nutritional Sciences Department at Rutgers University to study adipocyte metabolism in adipocyte fatty acid binding protein (A-FABP) knockout mice (aP2-/-) after short-term high-fat feeding. His work contributed to the discovery of a functional compensation by the keratinocyte-FABP. From there, Chris went on to join a research team working on a NASA-funded project developing biologically based nano-robots at Rutgers in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Rather than pursuing the conventional path after graduating from Cornell University with a BA in Economics, Chris blazed his own trail and pursued his passion for stand-up comedy on the New York circuit. His quick wit and even quicker ability to handle audiences made him a regular on the New York comedy scene. He has toured nationally at the Improv opening for some of the most popular and well-known acts. Chris has also headlined internationally and performed in front of large stadium crowds.