(525e) A Career in Process Development at Shell

A career in process development provides opportunities spanning idea generation and scouting research, all the way through commercial startup and subsequent plant optimization and support. Challenges encompass the entire array of chemical engineering disciplines and unit operations including reaction engineering, separations, process control, process synthesis and modeling, process economics, as well as the sciences of chemistry and catalysis, materials, fluid flow, thermodynamics, heat and mass transfer. Both experimental and modeling skills are valuable, as are interpersonal and business skills needed to lead a project team and influence senior management in decision making. Personal and technical skills can be expanded throughout one's career, by filling in the unresourced ?white spaces? that inevitably arise during project execution. Given the need for extensive contacts across the organization to commercialize new technology, a process development career can mature into a position of influence across the organization.