Montoya Receives New Mexico Tech's Top Undergrad Award

by Kathy Hedges

SOCORRO – Jonathan Montoya, a graduate of Española High School, was presented with the Brown Award, New Mexico Tech’s highest award to an undergraduate, at Commencement ceremonies on May 14.

Montoya received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering with highest honors at the state-supported research university. He plans to go on to graduate school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, to study theoretical chemical physics.

Montoya is the son of Walter and Anna Montoya of Española. His paternal grandparents are Tony and Margie Montoya, and his maternal grandparents are Flora and the late John Ault.

Jonathan was chosen for the award by faculty members, based on his outstanding achievements in scholarship, leadership, and conduct. According to his faculty advisor, Dr. Don Weinkauf, “Jonathan has been a pleasure to have in the classroom. He thinks outside the box and asks ‘what if.’ He is receiving his degree in a practical engineering field and yet is choosing to go on in a theoretical field. He epitomizes the best in both pure and applied sciences and has made himself a role model for students who may follow after him.”

During the summer of 2004, Jonathan was an intern at Pennsylvania State University, working on protein ultrapurification techniques. He has had two summer internships at Los Alamos National Laboratory, resulting in two in-house publications there.

Montoya has been named a Macey Scholar at New Mexico Tech and is a recipient of the General Motors Minority Scholarship. He was active in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and was a member of the Tau Beta Pi national engineering honor society and the Hi-Tech Campus Ambassadors program.

Montoya has been a teaching assistant and volunteer tutor in New Mexico Tech’s chemical engineering and chemistry departments. He has also volunteered his time tutoring students in Socorro elementary schools. In addition, Montoya has worked on-campus at New Mexico Tech as a lifeguard at the university’s swim center, and as a research assistant at the Petroleum Recovery Research Center.

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