Jayshree Seth
Corporate Scientist & Chief Science Advocate, 3M
Jayshree Seth is a Corporate Scientist at 3M and currently holds 80 patents for a variety of innovations, with several additional pending. She joined 3M in 1993 after an MS and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University, New York. She is a Distinguished Alumni Award recipient from her alma mater REC Trichy India, now NIIT Trichy, where she earned a B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering. Jayshree was appointed 3M’s first ever Chief Science Advocate in 2018 and is using her scientific knowledge, technical expertise and professional experience to advance science and the importance of STEM-based innovation and a robust talent pipeline to drive it. She is also a member of Carlton Society which is the 3M Science and Innovation “Hall of Fame.” Jayshree is the fourth woman and first female engineer to be inducted. She is the winner of Women & Technologies 2019 Le Tecnovisionarie® award for sustainability, and in 2020 she was awarded Society of Women Engineers (SWE) highest Achievement Award. She is also the first-ever winner of a Gold Stevie® Award in the new Female Thought Leaders of the Year – category in the 18th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business in 2021. In 2025, she was named to the prestigious Thinkers50 Radar that spotlights thinkers whose ideas are most likely to shape the future.
Jayshree is a TEDx speaker and was also featured in a docuseries titled Not the Science Type. She is the author of the books The Heart of Science – Engineering Footprints, Fingerprints, & Imprints, The Heart of Science – Engineering Fine Print and The Heart of Science – Engineering Blueprint published by the Society of Women Engineers, and all sales proceeds of the trilogy go to a scholarship for women in STEM. She is a sought-after speaker, globally, on a multitude of topics such as innovation, leadership, careers and STEM advocacy and has featured in local, national and international media.
Jayshree serves on the Board of Science Museum of Minnesota, as well as on the Education Outreach Subcommittee for the International Space Station (ISS) National Lab, Engineering Advisory Council for Clarkson University, American Association for Advancement of Science (AAAS) Industry Advisory Council, Advisory Board for Innovation - The Conference Board as Innovation Fellow, and Advisory Group of Aspen Institute Our Future is Science program. At 3M, Jayshree has served on the CEOs Inclusion Council, chaired the Asian Employee Resource Group A3CTION and serves on the Steering Committee for Technical Women’s Leadership Forum (WLF).
Jayshree’s husband also works at 3M and was a FIRST® mentor. Both of their now-adult children participated in FIRST.