Otis Shelton received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Houston. In 1967, he joined UnionCarbide Corporation in Texas City, Texas where he held various manufacturing assignments in low density polyethylene production, suspension/non-solvent vinyl chloride production and operations supervision of the Texas City Marine Terminal.
In 1992, Otis joined Praxair where he lead its Safety and Environmental Assessment Program which conducted thorough assessments of health, safety, process safety, distribution, environmental and emergency planning programs at Praxair facilities worldwide. He worked as Director of the program until his retirement in September,2012.
Otis is an AIChE Fellow and a distinguished leader in his community and in his profession. In addition to numerous volunteer activities in theFairfield County Local Section and AIChE committees, he served on theAIChE Board of Directors from 2000-2002 and was Secretary of the Board from 2004-2006. In 2014 he became president of the AIChE board of directors. Shelton spent several years serving as the Chair ofAIChE's Government Relations Committee and participated on the President's Blue Ribbon Committee on Government Relations and Local Sections. Otis is also a member of AIChE's Minority Affairs Committee.
Otis served as a co-chairs of the AIChE Foundation’s Henry T.and Melinda C.Brown Endowment for the Education for Under-represented Minority Chemical Engineers.Otis served for 20 years (1986-2006) on the NationalAdvisory Board of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and was awarded the 2015 NSBE's Chair's Council Award for Outstanding and Dedicated Service to NSBE. In addition, he actively participated on the National Research Council's Committee on Chemical Demilitarization for five years.