Nichols (1931 – April 3, 2005) was an engineer and the Retired Manager, Electric Vehicle External Strategy at Ford Motor Company.
She was a founding member of the advisory board for the College of Engineering - Center for Environmental Research & Technology (CE-CERT) at the University of California, Riverside.
She has authored or co-authored over 60 publications and she is the holder of three patents for the flexible-fuel vehicle (FFV).