John Wall has more than 35 years of industry experience in internal combustion engine technology, fuels and emissions, and in global engineering organization development.
Most recently, Wall served as Chief Technical Officer of Cummins Inc., the world’s largest independent manufacturer of diesel engines and related technologies, retiring in 2015. As he progressed from research and product engineering into engineering leadership, Wall remained directly involved in the most critical technology programs for low emissions, powertrain efficiency and alternative fuels. He also led the growth of Cummins technical organization from 1000 engineers, mostly centered in the U.S., to more than 6000 engineers globally, establishing new technical centers in India and China. Prior to joining Cummins in 1986, Wall led Diesel and Aviation Fuels Research for Chevron, where his team was first to discover the important contribution of fuel sulfur to diesel particulate emissions. Today he stays active technically as an advisor for the DOE Joint BioEnergy Institute and CoOptima Program, the Cyclotron Road energy incubator at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, the National Academies, and as Chair of the Cummins Science and Technology Council. He has been recognized for his technical contributions by election to the National Academy of Engineering and as a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers. He has received the SAE Horning Memorial Award and Arch T. Colwell Merit Award for research in the area of diesel fuel effects on emissions, the ASME Soichiro Honda Medal for significant engineering contributions in the field of personal transportation, the California Air Resources Board Haagen-Smit Clean Air Award, and US EPA Thomas W. Zosel Individual Achievement Award for career accomplishments in diesel emission control.
Wall studied mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received his SB and SM degrees from the Mechanical Engineering Honors Program in 1975 and ScD in 1978.
