Audrey Sherman, newest USPTO Trading Card subject, has myriad technological achievements and a record-setting career as patent holder
Audrey Sherman recently became a division scientist in medical disciplines at Solventum, where she creates new technology for cutting-edge health care products. Before that, she held a similar position at 3M until 2016, a history-making 38 year span at the American multinational conglomerate. But she will never forget the importance of her childhood job as flashlight holder.
“I was my dad’s best flashlight holder in the whole family,” Sherman told the USPTO in a 2021 interview. When he was working on something, “I wanted to be there to hold the flashlight and watch everything that he was doing.
“So my parents just really let me be curious, and that curiosity just has never left me.”
The most prolific 3M female patent holder with more than 165, Sherman was announced as the USPTO’s 31st Inventor Collectable Trading Card subject during Invention-Con 2024 in mid-August. She may be best known for inventing the adhesives on smartphone screen protectors and Command hooks used in humid and wet environments. Her patent accomplishments at 3M were even the subject of a final “Jeopardy!” question during a December 19, 2019 episode of the iconic game show.
Reflecting on being featured on the newest Inventor Collectable Trading Card, Sherman said: “For me to be represented in a USPTO Inventor Trading card is larger than life because I am a product of STEM and ‘See it, Be it.’
“Now having my own card gives so many children the chance to see what is possible. It makes this card a chance to pass it on!”
Her inspirational inventing journey is highlighted by dedicated collaboration, influential mentors, and her affinity for the kind of cooking that doesn’t happen in a kitchen.
Her mother allowed Sherman and her younger sister to mix concoctions including soaps and shampoos in the bathroom sink—a process the future scientist called “cooking.” When 3M scientist Rebecca Kreckel visited Sherman’s 11th-grade chemistry class and discussed how her cooking polymers in a lab earned her enough money to buy a sports car, “That was it,” she recalled.
She began her career at 3M as an intern while in high school and got her first patent after being at the company for five years.
Throttle and shift ahead decades later to a career driven full circle. Sherman’s experience in developing adhesives that did not cause corrosion was the key to Lamborghini being able to produce a mirror-like film that could be used to wrap the many curves, crevices, and crannies of a vehicle.
The result was an exciting Christmas present for her and 3M cohorts: U.S. Patent No. 10,162,090, issued on December 25, 2018, for a “conformable reflective film having specified reflectivity when stretched at room temperature.”
Sherman notes that only a couple of her patents list her as the sole assignee. “This process is all about the people and the collaboration that it takes to make these discoveries,” she said in a 3M story.
Nonetheless, her ability to connect seemingly unrelated concepts is an individual triumph.
In a Forbes story, she explained how, after working on products in road markings at 3M before transferring to the medical division, she was able to convince doctors that skin is like pavement.
“I push analogies until they break,” Sherman said. She said that just like roads, skin is exposed to heat and sun and therefore can get “old and crackly.” She collaborated on a breathable, pain-free, removable medical tape that is especially helpful for diabetics.
Sherman is grateful for the mentors who have inspired and encouraged her—especially the men in a field where women are a distinct minority.
“Way back when, there was just me and all the guys, but they were like my brothers, and we helped each other. … And they were very interested in what I wanted to do, and that’s a great mentor.”
Science is “not about knowing the answers. It’s about finding the answers.”
Requests for the USPTO trading cards can be sent to education@uspto.gov. You can also see the cards at https://bit.ly/3XeRVLA.