Milton L. Lee received a B.A. Degree in Chemistry from the University of Utah in 1971 and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Indiana University in 1975. Dr. Lee spent one year (1975-76) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a Postdoctoral Research Associate before taking a faculty position in the Chemistry Department at Brigham Young University, where he is presently the H. Tracy Hall Professor of Chemistry. Dr. Lee is an author or co author of over 500 scientific publications. Since 1980, he has given over 700 presentations on various aspects of his research, of which approximately one-third were invited lectures at major conferences and symposia. He is a member of the Scientific Committee for the International Symposia on Capillary Chromatography.

Dr. Lee is best known for his research in capillary separations and mass spectrometry detection. Following is a partial list of scientific awards that he has received for his achievements in research and professional activities: M.S. Tswett Chromatography Medal (1984), Keene P. Dimick Chromatography Award (1988), American Chemical Society Award in Chromatography (1988), Russian Tswett Chromatography Medal (1992), Martin Gold Medal (1996), Latin-American Chromatography Congress (COLACRO) Medal (1998), M.J.E. Golay Award (1998), American Chemical Society Award in Chemical Instrumentation (1998), Doctor of Philosophy honoris causa, Uppsala University (1998), Dal Nogare Award (1999), Eastern Analytical Symposium Award for Achievements in Separation Science (1999) and the California Separation Science Society Award (2005).

Professor Lee is also an entrepreneur and has been involved in transferring technology from his university research laboratory to the private sector. In 1984, he co-founded Lee Scientific to manufacture and market supercritical fluid chromatographic instrumentation, and in 1991, he co-founded Sensar Corporation to manufacture and market unique time-of-flight mass spectrometric instrumentation. Most recently, he is a co-founder of Palmar Technologies, which is developing novel ion trapping devices. In addition, Dr. Lee acquired ownership of the Journal of Microcolumn Separations in 1991, and became the publisher as well as an editor for the next 8 years. He is listed as a co-inventor on 20 issued or pending patents.