Selda Gunsel is a Turkish-American

chemical engineer A chemical engineer is a professional equipped with the knowledge of chemistry and other basic sciences who works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of Product (chemistry), products and deals with ...

. She is currently president of Shell global solutions and vice president (VP) for global commercial technology at

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...

Education

She received her BSc in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

from

Istanbul Technical University Istanbul Technical University, also known as Technical University of Istanbul (, commonly referred to as İTÜ), is an public university, public technical university located in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the world's third-oldest technical university ...

and an MSc and

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in chemical engineering from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

Research and career

She joined

Pennzoil Pennzoil is an American motor oil brand currently owned by Shell plc. The former Pennzoil Company had been established in 1913 in Pennsylvania, being active in business as an independent firm until it was acquired by Shell in 2002, becoming a bra ...

as a research scientist in 1986. While at Pennzoil, she undertook several sabbatical assignments in the Tribology Group at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

to work with Professor Hugh Spikes. During this time she published several papers on antiwear and viscosity modifier lubricant additives. In 2000, she was appointed VP for Technology Development and Innovation at

. She moved to Shell in 2002, and has fulfilled a number of roles including; VP of fuels and engine vehicle technology, general manager (GM) of global products and quality, GM of lubricants technology Americas and GM of global strategic R&D. She was appointed to her current role as VP for global commercial technology in 2017. She has served as both the president of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE) and as the chairman of the

Society of Automotive Engineers SAE International is a global professional association and standards organization based in Warrendale, Pennsylvania, United States. Formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers, the organization adopted its current name in 2006 to reflect bot ...

(SAE) Lubricants Research Award Board. In 2013, she was made an honorary professor at the State Key Laboratory of Tribology (SKLT) at Beijing's

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...

. She is a Fellow of the STLE and was awarded the STLE International Award in 2015. Gunsel was elected as a Member of the US

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

in 2017 for leadership in developing and manufacturing advanced fuels and lubricants to meet growing global energy demand while reducing emissions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunsel, Selda Living people American people of Turkish descent Year of birth missing (living people) Penn State College of Engineering alumni American mechanical engineers 21st-century American women engineers 21st-century American engineers Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Tribologists