Alba Lynnette Colón Rodríguez (born 1968) is an American automotive engineer and racing sports executive, the former program manager of

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

drag racing and

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

programs and the director of team operations for

Hendrick Motorsports Hendrick Motorsports is an American professional auto racing organization that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team was founded in 1984 as All-Star Racing by Rick Hendrick. Hendrick Motorsports has won a NASCAR-record 316 Cup Series ra ...

Education and career

Colón was born in 1968 in

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

, Spain; her parents were a physician and a teacher. She moved with her family to

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

when she was three, and studied mechanical engineering as a student at the

University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez The University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus (UPRM) or Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez (RUM) in Spanish (also referred to as Colegio and CAAM in allusion to its former name), is a Public university, public land-grant university in Mayagüez ...

. Initially inspired by

Sally Ride Sally Kristen Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012) was an American astronaut and physicist. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978, and in 1983 became the first American woman and the third woman to fly in space, after cosmonauts V ...

to aim for a career in space engineering as the first Puerto Rican woman astronaut, her interest in cars and racing began with a student

solar car A solar car is a solar vehicle for use on public roads or race tracks. Solar vehicles are electric vehicles that use self-contained solar cells to provide full or partial power to the vehicle via sunlight. Solar vehicles typically contain a recha ...

project, and with her participation in the 1991

Formula SAE Formula SAE is a student design competition organized by SAE International (previously known as the Society of Automotive Engineers, SAE). The competition was started in 1980 by the SAE student branch at the University of Texas at Austin after ...

student race car design program. After working for Sterling Pharmaceuticals in Puerto Rico, she moved to the mainland US in 1994 to work for

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

, initially as a data acquisition engineer for

races. She became manager of their Pro Stock Truck program in 1998, and was named as program manager for Chevrolet and Pontiac drag racing in 1999. In 2001 she became Chevrolet's program manager for

, "the only top female engineer in the sport of NASCAR racing". She moved to Hendrick Motorsports in 2018.

Recognition

The University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez named Colón as a distinguished alumna in 2008 and again in 2011. ''Hispanic Lifestyle'' magazine named Colón as a 2017 Latina of Influence. She was the 2017 recipient of the STEM Award at the Hispanic Heritage Awards, the 2021 recipient of the

ASME The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing edu ...

Kate Gleason Award and the 2022 recipient of the Rodica Baranescu Award of

SAE International 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colon, Alba 1968 births Living people Sportspeople from Salamanca American automotive engineers American women engineers Women automotive engineers Automotive engineers University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez people NASCAR people Puerto Rican motorsport people