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11/5/2008
For Nina Tortosa, working a double shift is part of the fun of her job. When the 34-year-old aerodynamics engineer for General Motors in suburban Detroit works extra hours, she wears jeans and a dingy, gray University of Minnesota sweatshirt, circa 1993. That’s because Tortosa (B.A. ’98, M.S. ’00) is laboring inside a wind tunnel, crawling under the bodies of clay model cars, taking measurements, and getting dirty. “It’s a blast in there. It’s kind of like playing, but at work,” she says. The currents inside a wind tunnel are used to simulate how cars perform in real-life conditions. It’s the job of aerodynamic engineers (also called aerodynamicists) like Tortosa to calculate how design affects fuel efficiency. That’s especially important on Tortosa’s current project: the Chevy Volt, an electric car that she and her colleagues are designing to travel 40 miles on a single charge. (That’s the maximum number of miles currently possible using the 400-pound lithium-ion battery, which will power the car.) When the battery runs down, a standard gasoline-powered internal combustion engine will kick in. The car is scheduled for release in 2010. “I can’t wait to get one,” Tortosa says. “I commute 26 miles roundtrip. It’s not a whole lot of fun getting gas on a cold winter morning.” Born in Barcelona, Spain, and raised in Minneapolis, Tortosa’s passion for aerodynamics was born as she watched the first space shuttle launch on TV as an 8-year-old. She dreamed of becoming an astronaut, attended space camp twice, and then decided to pursue degrees in aerospace engineering and mechanics at the U. Tortosa fed her hunger for flight by earning her private pilot’s license while she was a student. In days gone by, she spent her free time flying and windsurfing—but these days, when Tortosa isn’t in the wind tunnel, she’s spending time with her 3-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter. Her husband is a chemical engineer who also works at GM. Of the 25 aerodynamics engineers in her group at GM, just three are women. Forthrightness has always been one of Tortosa’s assets, and it has helped her navigate her male-dominated profession. “Once you prove you know what you’re talking about, people trust you,” she says. While she was a student at the University, GM recruiters came calling. She asked if the Fortune 500 company hired aerodynamicists or owned its own wind tunnel. The answer on both counts: No. “I think you should,” she told them. Now GM has a wind tunnel and a happy-to-work-double-shifts Tortosa. —Todd Melby | |||||||||||||||
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