Christal Sheppard from the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) will be on campus Wednesday, April 27, to discuss intellectual property and the patent process.
Sheppard, the Midwest regional director of USPTO, will give two presentations at the Alumni Center, room 116. The first talk at 1:30 p.m. will cover intellectual property basics, describe the patenting process, and inform attendees on how to interact with the USPTO. The second presentation at 3 p.m. will feature a brief overview of the American Invents Act, and reporting of inventions made with federal funding under the Bayh-Dole Act.
Both sessions will have time allotted for a question-and-answer session with Sheppard. The event is free and open to the public.
Prior to joining the USPTO, Sheppard was an assistant professor of law at the University of Nebraska, where she co-founded a program of concentrated study in intellectual property law at the Law College. She has more than two decades of science and intellectual property law and policy experience, including as a practicing attorney at Foley & Lardner and the United States International Trade Commission, as well as internships with the United States Court of Appeals.
Sheppard has a master’s degree and Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from Cornell University Law School.
For additional information, contact Cory Abernathy at (309) 438-0615.
