Reaching For The Stars

Montgomery Bohde ’26, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics and a minor in philosophy from Texas A&M University’s College of Arts and Sciences as well as another bachelor’s degree in computer science, is one of two Aggies named 2025 Astronaut Scholar.

This prestigious honor, awarded by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation (ASF), supports the nation’s most promising college juniors and seniors studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics who have plans to pursue research or advance their career upon completion of their undergraduate degree. Since the program’s inception, the foundation has awarded more than $10 million to more than 900 Astronaut Scholars, including 43 Aggies.

The 2025 cohort includes 74 students — including Bohde and fellow Aggie Annalaine Whitson ’26, an electrical engineering major — from 51 universities. Each Astronaut Scholar will receive a $15,000 scholarship.

These students will be honored during the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation’s Innovators Symposium and Gala, scheduled for Aug. 13-16 in Houston.

“Welcoming each new class of Astronaut Scholars into the ASF family is always a highlight of the year,” said Caroline Schumacher, president and CEO of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation in an ASF press release. “The 2025 class of Astronaut Scholars brings fresh energy, creativity and determination to our community and carries forward the legacy of innovation and courage that began with our founding Mercury 7 Astronauts. We’re excited to see how their passion and talent will help fuel meaningful progress across STEM fields.”

Bohde’s passion for applied mathematics began during his senior year of high school in Plano, Texas, when he took an AP Calculus BC course that combined AB material with more advanced topics.

“I had an amazing teacher — Galina Tabanian — and it was in her class that I began to appreciate the beauty of math,” he said.

Upon his acceptance into Texas A&M, Bohde maintained a laser-like focus on his original academic plan.

“Despite my newfound appreciation of math, I came into Texas A&M as a computer science major with the intention of finishing my degree as fast as possible,” he said. “I didn't want to take any additional math classes outside of what was required for my degree.”

However, two freshman-level courses — MATH 308 taught by Dr. Kamran Reihani and MATH 304, instructed by Dr. Gregory Berkolaiko — changed his plans.

“These two professors inspired me to pursue a double major in math,” Bohde said. “They both had a funny tendency to make snide remarks about how engineers don't do 'real math,' and I think these remarks made me want to learn more and eventually led to me adding applied math as a secondary major.”

Through his studies and research, Bohde is exploring the rapidly changing world of machine learning.

“I am focused on artificial intelligence for science and molecular representation learning,” he said, “and using machine learning to predict properties of molecular systems such as molecules, materials and proteins, thereby enabling high-throughput screening of candidate structures. I have been interested in biology and chemistry since I was a child and almost majored in biology, so I chose this research area because it perfectly blends my academic interests.”

Bohde has been conducting research since his first year with Dr. Shuiwang Ji, the Truchard Family Endowed Chair in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M. In that time, he has published several papers on artificial intelligence.

Bohde believes this research focus holds great promise to help humankind and the world at large.

“It is also a highly impactful research area as these machine learning tools can save lives by enabling the discovery of new drugs, treatments and diagnostic tools,” he said. “They can also help improve clean energy storage and enable carbon capture with the discovery of new materials, just to name a few potential applications.”

His research in molecular representation learning has allowed him to work with Dr. Connor Coley, the Henri Slezynger (1957) Career Development Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering at MIT. That research uses deep learning for mass spectrometry structural elucidation, which involves recovering molecular structures from mass spectra readings.

“This is an important task for a variety of chemistry/medical research labs as mass spectrometry has the potential to enable accurate and high-throughput screening of solutions, but it is incredibly challenging to determine the structure of a molecule given just the spectra,” Bohde explained “This research resulted in a paper which was just accepted to the International Conference on Machine Learning, and I will be going to Vancouver in July to present the work.”

He is also engaged in a research project in collaboration with researchers in Texas A&M’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

“We developed HIENet, a machine learning model capable of predicting important thermodynamic properties as well as conducting molecular dynamics simulations of crystal materials,” Bohde said. “The paper is under review, but the preprint is publicly available.”

Bohde appreciates the teamwork that has supported his research efforts.

“I could not have done any of this research alone; it is a collaborative effort and there are a great many people who have been important to my journey,” he said. “I have been incredibly lucky to have amazing research advisers, Dr. Shuiwang Ji and Dr. Connor Coley. They have been instrumental in teaching me how to do research and steering me in the direction of interesting and impactful projects. I have also been lucky to collaborate with talented Ph.D. students who have made contributions to each of my papers.”

Outside of his research lab, Bohde is a First-Generation Engineering Peer Mentor, a role in which he supports incoming first-generation Aggies like himself to navigate their first year at Texas A&M. He also serves as the technical director of the Texas A&M Computing Society and is responsible for organizing weekly workshops on popular technologies/frameworks for the chapter’s 100-plus members. He also is a member of Texas A&M’s International Collegiate Programming Contest team and serves as an officer of Aggie Competitive Programming Club.

The Astronaut Scholars Foundation was created in 1984 by the six surviving Mercury 7 astronauts — Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Walter Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton — along with Betty Grissom (the widow of the seventh Mercury 7 astronaut, Virgil “Gus” Grissom), Project Mercury flight surgeon Dr. William Douglas and Orlando businessman Henri Landwirth. Their goal was to ensure that the United States would remain a global technology leader. Subsequent U.S. astronauts have continued to embrace the program’s mission throughout the four decades since its founding.

The Astronaut Scholars program is recognized nationally for being among the largest merit-based monetary scholarships awarded to undergraduate STEM juniors and seniors. Additionally, ASF develops a life-long relationship with each Astronaut Scholar and provides support that includes mentors, professional and personal development, and networking with astronauts, C-suite level executives and industry leaders to help these emerging generations of STEM leaders advance their careers.

Pursuing a Ph.D. in computer science, Bohde views the prestigious Astronaut Scholar award as a key distinction on his graduate school applications. Though his postdoctoral plans remain open, he’s driven by a desire to conduct meaningful research.

“I’ve often dreamed of turning my research into a biotech startup,” he said. “That’s something I may explore down the road.”

In the short term, Bohde sees Astronaut Scholar recognition as a way to help his loved ones better grasp the value of his work.

“My friends and family might not fully understand my research papers or what my accomplishments mean within the field,” he said. “But receiving a national award like this helps them see the impact — and it feels good to make them proud.”