Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate confirmed Michelle K. Lee as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). She is the first woman and person of color to head the USPTO.

President Obama nominated Lee in October 2014. She has more than two decades’ of experience in intellectual property and patent law. Prior to her new position, Lee served as the Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and the acting Director and Deputy Director of the USPTO, said Asian Fortune. She also headed the USPTO Silicon Valley office. Before that, Lee was Google’s first Deputy General Counsel and Head of Patents and Patents Strategy.

“We congratulate Michelle Lee on her historic confirmation,” said George C. Chen, president of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA). “Ms. Lee is breaking barriers not only for the Asian Pacific American community, but for all women and communities of color in the tech and legal industries.”

Lee has a B.S. in electrical engineering and a M.S. in computer science from MIT. She received her JD from Stanford Law School.

The National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) is the national association of Asian Pacific American (APA) attorneys, judges, law professors, and law students. NAPABA represents the interests of over 40,000 attorneys and approximately 70 national, state, and local bar associations.