Johanna García Montemayor rarely travels without her roller skates. When the incoming Rice University doctoral student moves from Monterrey, Mexico, to Houston this fall, they will offer more than a way to explore her new home. They will help her find community as she rolls into the next stage of her academic journey.
“I love to meet new people from different countries, different places,” García Montemayor said. “Always when I travel, I take my skates with me, and it’s a fun and easy way to make new friends.”
A Fulbright scholar, García Montemayor will pursue a doctorate in materials science and nanoengineering. Her research interests include electrochemical energy storage, with the possibility of studying batteries or supercapacitors.
Her path to Rice began during her bachelor’s studies in chemistry, when she participated in Clubes de Ciencia México, a program that pairs international and Mexican researchers to teach short courses on specialized scientific topics. García Montemayor enrolled in a course on electrochemistry, where she met a Rice student and first learned about the university and the Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium, or GCURS.
She later attended GCURS at Rice, giving her an opportunity to see the campus and its research community firsthand.
“I already know the campus, and I love it,” she said. “I love the interaction between the people there.”
Her interest in electrochemistry emerged from a challenge. García Montemayor said she initially struggled with the subject as an undergraduate, motivating her to incorporate it into her master’s research in nanotechnology.
“It became like a challenge for me, and that’s why I decided to include electrochemistry in my master’s project,” she said. “I think the energy area of research is important right now, and it could be very helpful to improve the devices we have.”
At Rice, García Montemayor hopes to continue exploring how energy can be stored more effectively. She is still considering potential research groups but knows she wants her work to focus on electrochemical energy storage.
Before beginning her doctoral program, García Montemayor has been working as a junior high science teacher. She hopes the Ph.D. will prepare her to establish her own research group, potentially at a university in Mexico.
“I think a lot of things can happen in five years, but right now my plan is to try to learn a lot,” she said. “After finishing my Ph.D., I can start my own research group, maybe return to Mexico and join a university.”
García Montemayor’s connection to Rice also helped lead her to the Fulbright scholarship. While some students receive a scholarship before choosing a university, she had already set her sights on Rice after attending GCURS. During the symposium, she met Fulbright students who encouraged her to apply.
“I was very interested in joining Rice,” she said. “There I met students who had these scholarships, so they told me that this scholarship is useful to get into Rice. So I decided to try that, and it went well.”
She is especially excited to join Rice’s close-knit community of Fulbright students and to experience Houston’s food, concerts and cultural offerings. The city may be new, but she expects it to feel familiar in some ways.
“I think I will fit the city because it’s kind of similar to what I’m used to here in Monterrey,” she said.
Houston’s skate parks are also on her list. García Montemayor began roller-skating about 6 years ago and enjoys skating on ramps, though she is quick to note that she does not take many risks. She has also helped teach the sport, spending two years offering free Sunday classes with a group of friends in Monterrey.
At Rice, she is considering using her skates to travel around campus and perhaps inviting others along for the ride.
“Joining Rice, I think it’s a great opportunity for me to grow professionally and personally,” García Montemayor said.
With her research interests set on improving how the world stores energy and her roller skates packed for Houston, García Montemayor is ready to gain momentum at Rice, one experiment and one trick at a time.