Elena Rodriguez-Falcon FREng^[1] PFHEA (born 1972) is a Mexican academic who studied engineering. She is the Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Study Group.^[2]

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Rodriguez-Falcon was Professor of Enterprise and Engineering Education at the University of Sheffield^[3][4][5] until January 2018. Until September 2023, she was Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. Rodriguez-Falcon was the Founding President and Chief Executive Officer at the New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering^[6] having briefly served as its Provost and Chief Academic Officer.^[7]

Rodriguez-Falcon was born in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, in 1972.^[8] She studied mechanical engineering at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León in Mexico, graduating with a first class degree in 1994, followed by a master's degree in mechanical engineering and industrial relations at the same university. In 2000, Rodriguez-Falcon was awarded a master's degree in mechanical engineering and industrial management at Sheffield Hallam University, and in 2005 she trained in learning and teaching for higher education professionals at the University of Sheffield.

Rodriguez-Falcon worked in industry in Mexico from 1993 as a design and logistics engineer and later as a project and quality manager. In 2002 she joined the University of Sheffield. She began her academic career teaching business planning to engineers in several of the Faculty of Engineering's departments; her students worked with clients to develop engineering solutions which could later become commercial products.^[9][10] She also studied cultural differences in workplace expectations among engineering students.^[11]

At Sheffield, Rodriguez-Falcon held several roles,^[12] including director of enterprise education,^[12] full professor,^[13] and faculty director of communications and external relations in the Faculty of Engineering. From 2011 to 2014, Rodriguez-Falcon was the director of Women in Engineering.^[14] In this role she wrote and spoke about the need for more women to become engineers and how this could be accomplished.^[15][16][17] For her work in the field, she was presented with a Women into Science and Engineering award in 2014.^[18]

In January 2018, Rodriguez-Falcon left Sheffield to join the newly founded New Model Institute for Technology and Engineering in Hereford in the role of inaugural provost and chief academic officer, holding a distinguished chair in engineering education. Later in 2018, Rodriguez-Falcon became President and Chief Executive Officer.

In 2022, Rodriguez-Falcon became Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, and in 2023 she was appointed to the inaugural role of Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Study Group.^[2]

Rodriguez-Falcon was recognised by the Higher Education Academy as a Principal Fellow. The Royal Academy of Engineering^[19] recognised her for excellence in teaching in 2007, and she was named the most inspirational academic at the University of Sheffield.^[20] In 2015, she received an honorary doctorate of engineering from her alma mater, the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León.^[21] In 2019, she was selected as a fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology^[22] and by the Chartered Management Institute, and in 2020 Rodriguez-Falcon was named Woman of the Year in Technology by FDM Everywoman.^[23] In 2022, the Royal Academy of Engineering elected her as a fellow of the institution for her work in engineering education.^[24]