(AOL Autos) -- Over the decades, I've interviewed dozens of automotive engineers; engine engineers, transmission engineers, chemical engineers, tire engineers, etc. But never have I interviewed an engineer quite like Ford's Cristina Rodriguez.



Cristina Rodriguez has been with the Ford Motor Company for 12 years.



What separates Crissy (what she prefers to be called at work) from other engineers is that it seems as though she was born be where she is today; the Vehicle Dynamics Development Engineer of the 2010 Ford Taurus.



The Taurus goes on sale this summer, and it is arguably the most important vehicle Ford announces this year.



This thirty-something Puerto Rican is the only woman at Ford Motor Company to have achieved her status as a Vehicle Dynamics Development Engineer. The job is equal parts engineer, race driver and vehicle psychologist.



"As an engineer, I need to make sure the car is safe," Rodriguez said. "As a (race) driver I have to make sure the car handles well. And then I have to tune the car to have the right personality for being the latest Ford." AOL Autos: Best sedans under $30K



She goes on to define what how cars exhibit personality.



"Some cars have a more relaxed personality, so everything about the way they drive is soft and slower to react," she said. "Fords have a DNA that is sportier, more fun to drive, more responsive, more alive, so they need to feel that way."



You'll be able to tell whether Rodriguez has done her job well when you get behind the wheel of the new Taurus.



While we didn't get to drive the new Taurus, we did get an opportunity to ride in the high-performance Taurus SHO model at Ford Motor Company's Dearborn, Michigan proving grounds (a special test track for developing new cars and trucks). More on that experience later. AOL Autos: Best and worst automotive designs



Preparing for success



Rodriguez told us about her background in the automotive business. "I've grown into this job because Ford's engineering group works on a model that emphasizes 'technical maturity.'"  AOL Autos: First drive of the 2010 Chevy Camaro



For Rodriguez, this means that because she first possessed the technical background for the job, she was then able to develop and prove her practical skills on her way to becoming one of the company's most influential engineers. She's been with Ford 12 years.



Matter-of-factly, Rodriguez elaborates. "In this job, your body has to become a precisely calibrated instrument that can understand what the car's mechanicals are doing," she said. "It takes a while to tune your body, but I've been working on this particular chassis for eight years, so I really know what it's capable of and how to make it respond."



While the 2010 Taurus is an all-new vehicle, it is related to other Ford products (the Lincoln MKS, Ford Flex, and the outgoing Ford Five Hundred/Taurus). Rodriguez also contributed to the ride and handling on those vehicles, a task that began with the Ford Five Hundred back in 2001.



Born to Cuban parents who fled Castro's communist regime, Rodriguez grew up in Puerto Rico.



"I learned to be a methodical thinker from my father, who was a chemical engineer," she said. "But it was my mother who was the mechanical one. She encouraged me when I was growing up to figure out how things worked, and she never got too mad at me when I put things back together and still had a few pieces left over."



While Rodriguez worked on her motor skills, another aspect of her life laid groundwork for her future success.



"I come from a very athletic family," she said. "My grandfathers and uncles played Olympic basketball, so we were always active. I can remember that when my brother enrolled in little league baseball, he didn't want to join without a friend, so my mother
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