Selda Gunsel is the President of Shell Global Solutions (US), the technology arm of Shell US and the Global Vice President of Lubricants, Mobility & Fuels Technology with the responsibility for leading a global group of scientists and engineers in driving innovation and technology leadership in products that improve energy efficiency, promote sustainability and enable energy transition to a low Carbon future.

Selda was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in the USA in 2017 in recognition of her distinguished contributions to engineering, “for leadership in developing and manufacturing advanced fuels and lubricants to meet growing global energy demand while reducing CO2 emissions”.

In 2015, Selda was awarded the STLE International Award – the highest technical

honor awarded by the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers. Throughout her career, Selda has received numerous other awards including STLE Fellow, SASE Career Achievement Award, Business World Energy Leadership Award by the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources in Turkey, R&D 100 Innovation Award, SAE International Excellence Award, STLE Captain Alfred E. Hunt Best Paper Award, Penn State Outstanding Engineering Alumna Award and Shell internal awards for both Innovation and Leadership in Diversity and Inclusiveness.

Selda received her BSc in Chemical Engineering from the Istanbul Technical University in Turkey and her MSc and PhD also in Chemical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University, USA. While working in the industry, Selda has held sabbatical assignments at Imperial College, London in the UK and Honorary Professorship at Tsinghua University in China.

Selda has published extensively in scientific literature, received patents and is well known in the industry. She has served as the President of the STLE and the Chairman of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Lubricants Research Award Board. She has served as member of the Industrial Advisory Board of Penn State University’s Chemical Engineering Department and has served on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Lubrication Science, UK, and Tribology Transactions, USA. She has chaired and delivered keynote addresses at many international conferences. She currently serves on the Boards of Center for Houston’s Future, Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology (TAMEST), The Penn State Research Foundation and Houston Grand Opera. She also serves as the executive sponsor of Shell-Prairie View A&M partnership, University of Houston Energy Transition Institute and Louisiana State University’s Energy Innovation Institute.