FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Nearly 20 presenters from varied backgrounds will discuss a range of subjects regarding patent law and the patent application process at the university's first Patent Bootcamp for Women and Minorities in STEM. Patent attorneys, entrepreneurs, innovators and scholars from across the country will be on campus Friday, Sept. 13, to give academics, inventors, business owners and others a one-day primer on the basics of patent law. 

Hope Shimabuku, a regional director for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and Shontavia Johnson, Associate Vice President for Academic Partnerships and Innovation at Clemson University, will give addresses to share their insights with workshop participants. Five panel discussions and an address on the state of innovation and patenting in Arkansas by U of A Vice Chancellor for Economic Development Stacy Leeds round out the day of training. 

Although the target audiences are women and minorities in STEM programs at the University of Arkansas, the bootcamp is open to entrepreneurs and innovators throughout Northwest Arkansas and beyond.

The event will be held from 8:30 a.m.-5:20 p.m. in the E.J. Ball Courtroom at the University of Arkansas School of Law. Admission is free and includes lunch for registrants. Register today to reserve your seat and lunch order. See the bootcamp web page for the most recent updates on the schedule, program and panelists and more extensive biographies of Shimabuku and Johnson.

HOPE SHIMABUKU

Shimabuku will present Closing Diversity Gaps in Patenting: What is the United States Patent and Trademark Office Up To?for the event's 12:30 p.m. address. 

As the director of the Texas Regional USPTO, Shimabuku carries out the strategic direction of the USPTO director and under secretary of commerce for intellectual property. She is responsible for leading the Texas regional office and ensures the USPTO's initiatives and programs are tailored to the region's unique ecosystem of industries and stakeholders by focusing on the region and actively engaging with the community.

She has been an engineer and intellectual property attorney for nearly two decades. Before joining the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, she was part of the Office of General Counsel at Xerox Corporation, where she served as vice president and corporate counsel responsible for all intellectual property matters for Xerox Business Services, LLC. Shimabuku also worked for BlackBerry Corporation advising on U.S. and Chinese standards setting, cyber security, technology transfer and intellectual property laws and legislation. As an engineer, she worked for Procter and Gamble and Dell Computer Corporation. 

Shimabuku has championed diversity efforts throughout her career. She was the first Asian American chair of the State Bar of Texas Intellectual Property Section, was honored with the Champion of Diversity Award by the Association of Corporate Counsel and received a diversity award from the State Bar of Texas Asian Pacific Interest Section. Her many professional honors include being named a Hero of Innovation by the Center for American and International Law, selected as a Dallas Business Journal"Top 40 Under Forty," named Dallas Business Journal'sCorporate Counsel Rookie of the Year and selected as one of the "500 Most Powerful Business Leaders" by D CEO magazine.

Shimabuku earned a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and a Juris Doctor from the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law.

SHONTAVIA JACKSON JOHNSON

Johnson will deliver the keynote address, Diversifying Innovation: From a Seat at the Table to Inventing a New Table, at 4:30 p.m., which will touch on the racial and gender gaps in patenting in the U.S. 

She is the founder of LVRG (pronounced "leverage"), a company dedicated to helping women leverage their own expertise to build dynamic personal brands and successful businesses, and the Associate Vice President for Academic Partnerships and Innovation and a tenured faculty member in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice at Clemson University in South Carolina. 

Johnson is an award-winning writer, attorney, speaker and entrepreneur who focuses on the connection of intellectual property law and popular culture. She is the creator of Pop Culture U, a digital platform that shares insights and lessons about intellectual property law and internet culture by using current headlines.

She speaks and teaches on topics related to intellectual property law, internet culture and pop culture across the U.S. and around the world, and she has written extensively about the intersection between intellectual property and diversity. 

Johnson received a Bachelor of Science in biosystems engineering from Clemson University, earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas School of Law and studied international law and comparative constitutional law at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa.

PATENT BOOTCAMP SCHEDULE

8-8:30 a.m. – Check-In and Registration

8:30-8:45 a.m. – Welcome and Introductory Remarks by Dean Margaret Sova McCabe, University of Arkansas School of Law, and Uché Ewelukwa Ofodile, E.J. Ball Professor of Law

8:45-9:45 a.m. – Panel I: Intellectual Property: A Primer

• Jeanne Curtis, patent attorney; consultant; former director, Cardozo/Google Project for Patent Diversity, Cardozo Law School
• Uché Ewelukwa Ofodile, E.J. Ball Professor, University of Arkansas School of Law
• Meredith K. Lowry, attorney, Wright, Lindsey and Jennings LLP
• Debby Winters, partner, Eldridge Brooks Partners

9:45-10:55 a.m. – Panel II: Acquiring a Patent: The Nuts and Bolts

• Lisa C. Childs, patent attorney; assistant vice president for technology commercialization, University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture
• Tammy VanHeyningen, partner, Quarles and Brady LLP
• Kathryn Wade, counsel, Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton LLP

10:55-11 a.m. – Break

11 a.m.-noon – Panel III: Racial and Gender Gaps in Patenting. Challenges to Patenting for Women and Minorities. The Role of Universities in Addressing the Gaps in Patenting and Innovation.

• Jeanne Curtis, patent attorney; consultant; former director, Cardozo/Google Project for Patent Diversity, Cardozo Law School
• Ingrid Fritsch, professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Arkansas
• Sarah Goforth, executive director, University of Arkansas Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation; adjunct professor, University of Arkansas Sam M. Walton College of Business
• Heather Nachtmann, associate dean for research, University of Arkansas College of Engineering
• Marie-Rachelle Narcisse, assistant professor, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
• Christal Sheppard, assistant professor, University of Nebraska School of Law; former chief counsel on patents and trademarks for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary; former patent attorney, Foley and Lardner LLP

Noon-12:30 p.m. – Lunch Break

12:30-1:30 p.m. – Address: "Closing Diversity Gaps in Patenting: What is  the United States Patent and Trademark Office Up To?" by Hope Shimabuku, director, Texas Regional, United States Patent and Trademark Office

1:30-2:30 p.m. – Panel IV: Patent Prosecution. Patent Litigation. Patent Counseling. Landmines in Patenting.

• Angela J. Grayson, certified information privacy professional/United States; technology attorney; consultant; member and founder, Precipice IP PLLC
• David Pieper, registered patent attorney and founding member, Keisling & Pieper PLC 
• Christal Sheppard, assistant professor, University of Nebraska School of Law; former chief counsel on patents and trademarks for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Judiciary; former patent attorney, Foley and Lardner LLP
• Kathryn Wade, counsel, Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton LLP
• Debby Winters, partner, Eldridge Brooks Partners

2:30-3:50 p.m. – Panel V: Patents, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

• Mary Beth Brooks, director, University of Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center; former executive vice president, Arvest Bank; former president and CEO, Bank of Fayetteville
• Ellen Brune, senior manager II, Walmart; founder and CEO, Boston Mountain Biotech
• Martha Londagin, executive consultant, Startup Junkie
• April Seggebruch, co-founder and vice president, Movista
• Min Zou, Twenty-first Century Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Arkansas College of Engineering

3:50-4 p.m. – Break

4-4:30 p.m. – Address: "State of Innovation and Patenting in Arkansas 2019" by Stacy Leeds, vice chancellor for economic development, University of Arkansas; professor, University of Arkansas School of Law

4:30-5:15 p.m. – Keynote Address: "Diversifying Innovation: From a Seat at the Table to Inventing a New Table" by Shontavia Johnson, associate vice president for academic partnerships and innovation, Clemson University

5:15-5:20 p.m. – Closing Remarks