When it’s in your blood, the best thing to do is go with it. Dr. Cheryl Elsbernd has a lot of math teachers and chemists in her family – curious, head-scratching people who think solving complex problems is creative fun. So, it seemed inevitable that at every indecisive juncture in her early education, ancestral genes linked with chance encounters to nudge her toward a career in science.

Elsbernd is a research chemist at 3M, the global technology and manufacturing giant with headquarters in St. Paul, Minn. Hers is a world of white lab coats, beakers, pipettes, data logs, and precision equipment, where people engage in the constant search for something new. She has worked there 20 years, ever since earning her doctorate in polymer chemistry in 1988 from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University at Blacksburg, Va.

Elsbernd has navigated through several divisions at 3M, most recently the Home Care division where she leads a team developing advanced repellent materials for textiles. Her work has helped obtain 13 patents for 3M, including replacement products for Scotchgard ™, the company’s brand name fabric protector. The oil industry has used another of her patented products to retrieve crude oil from abandoned wells.

Elsbernd spent her first 12 years at 3M in corporate research labs assisting with longterm projects that identify new technologies and directions in science. Now with her narrowed focus, she is modifying large polymer molecules to improve water repellency. “The design is the creative process and there are countless ways to create different properties,” she says.

The process always begins with a learning curve. Elsbernd reviews open scientific and patent literature, structures the experiment, does performance testing, and confers with colleagues and regulatory groups. Then manufacturing engineers and marketing staff enter the project, quantities are scaled up, and it moves to sales. The pinnacle is a product with a patent.

“It’s a very dynamic process that involves all aspects of getting a product out the door,” says Elsbernd, the project’s development coordinator. “Each division at 3M has resources that perform these functions.”

Trying new things has some roots in childhood. Elsbernd participated in many activities, swimming, tennis, dance, and Girl Scouts, all giving her the opportunity to excel, lead and build self-confidence. Dancing since age 4, she studied through college and took lessons at a private studio in Fargo. She has kept her Girl Scout membership since second grade.

“Girl Scouting is just such a great program,” she says. “I did so many leadership development activities.”

Elsbernd interned at the North Dakota Legislature and the Bismarck Public Library. In high school, she earned a trip to Williamsburg, Va. The fall of her freshman year at BSC, she spent two weeks in India, one of 10 Girl Scouts selected nationwide. Forty years later, she is surpassing her 25th year as a Girl Scout leader and holds the Outstanding Girl Scout Leader Award. She currently heads two troops recognized for work with the homeless in St. Paul.

Starting late at BSC may have influenced her career choice. She was advised by chemistry professor Frank Koch to sign up for an independent research project because of her late attendance. At that time, leaded gas was being phased out, so they formulated a project to test and compare lead levels in city and country grasshoppers. (City grasshoppers had more.) Sophomore year, she tutored chemistry and thoughts of becoming a technical writer began to fade as her good math and science skills were reinforced.

Elsbernd majored in polymer chemistry for her B.S. at North Dakota State University, where she was voted outstanding chemistry student. A suggestion from professors there propelled her into graduate school. Like her experience at BSC, influence was timely and mentors challenged her to do things she hadn’t considered.

“It seemed the perfect thing to do, and it was the best thing,” she says.

Elsbernd grew up in Bismarck and graduated from St. Mary’s Central High School. Teachers at every level encouraged and challenged her, she says, and her parents instilled the value of an education. In her work and life, Elsbernd values integrity above all and service to others.

“When you have that base, it’s easier to use what’s inside of you to be successful,” she says.

In the community, Elsbernd visits schools for 3M’s Visiting Wizard program, where she leads students through experiments to spark interest in science. She also does presentations at high schools and colleges to encourage science as a career and is active in her church community. In November 2000, Elsbernd returned to BSC as a featured speaker for National Chemistry Week.

Cheryl and her husband Mark, ’81, a BSC alumnus from Bismarck, live in Woodbury, Minn. Their daughters Laura, 15, and Kristin, 12, do competitive dance, and son Michael, 10, participates in several sports. The family enjoys a lake cabin, the outdoors, and the many theater and sports events in Minneapolis- St. Paul.