Professional Practice Hall of Fame Inductee: Francisco Montalvo

Portrait of a man holding a microphone within a crowd

Montalvo is one of eight Purdue alums to be inducted into the Professional Practice Hall of Fame on Oct. 23, 2026.

Francisco Montalvo came to Purdue University with an open mind.

Moving from Ecuador to West Lafayette, Indiana, meant tackling a new culture and making friends from all parts of the globe.

What delighted Montalvo about Indiana — and Purdue — was the kindness, curiosity and mutual open-mindedness of his peers, professors and professional staff.

Traveling to the Midwest would change his life.

At Purdue, Montalvo (BSME '08, MS ME '18, PhD '23) encountered the Global Engineering Alliance for Research and Education (GEARE), one of many professional development programs in the Office of Professional Practice (OPP). With three co-op rotations at Bosch in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on his resume, Montalvo changed global locations again: He found an industrial internship with Siemens in Germany.

That internship proved transformative. When Montalvo returned to Purdue after the internship, he brought intense investment in OPP's professional experiences back.

Montalvo’s investment in OPP — throughout all three of his Purdue degrees and after — earned recognition in the Professional Pratice Hall of Fame. To be celebrated on Oct. 23, 2026, the Hall of Fame honors Purdue alums who have influenced OPP programs or have achieved unparalleled excellence in their field. Montalvo is one of eight in the 2026 cohort.

Man in black suit on green hallway background

Montalvo

“I started realizing what the Co-op Program was, what we had (at Purdue) and how important it is to consider professional experiences as a big part of your education,” said Montalvo, now a lecturer and assistant director for experiential learning in the School of Mechanical Engineering. “It was very educational (for me as a student) to learn that there was a whole team working really hard to put it together.”

Three years in Berlin as a tech project leader and Montalvo couldn’t shake the desire to go back to GEARE. He didn’t want to shake it. GEARE inspired him, enabled him to work globally and to embrace new cultures.

And embrace a slightly different take on engineering as a whole.

“I didn’t know that you could be an engineer and still teach, be in education and still work for a company,” he said. “It’s so important for workforce development but also for redevelopment of those engineers.”

From August 2016-18, Montalvo served as the OPP international internship coordinator while also earning his master’s in mechanical engineering. Montalvo continued his studies with a doctorate in 2019 which combined sustainability, technology and experiences in palm oil manufacturing into water quality implementations. His research focused on providing long-lasting solutions to areas in Latin America with less access to quick medical care.

Enter another paradigm shift: from manufacturing to teaching and creating global, multidisciplinary connections.

“The project was truly interdisciplinary,” Montalvo said. “We had people from mechanical (engineering), people from WHO (World Health Organization). … My degree was in civil and ecological, but we have similar topics (to water quality) in mechanical as well.”

Montalvo has been at Purdue since completing his doctorate, making impacts across the global map. As an international internship coordinator for OPP — then, assistant director for global projects in the same program — Montalvo’s engineering experiences and interdisciplinary mindset became a hallmark of his work.

Over the years, Montalvo grew into a professional connector, introducing students with companies, universities and professional experiences worldwide. He coordinated courses for Milestones, OPP’s micro-certification program, and helped strengthen global partnerships that help Purdue Engineering students learn beyond the classroom.

Montalvo also helped celebrate the program that had started his own journey. In May 2023, he organized GEARE’s 20-year anniversary celebration in Karlsruhe, Germany.

In 2024, Montalvo moved to the School of Mechanical Engineering, becoming assistant director for experiential learning. This switch from one program to another also led Montalvo to innovate his process for introducing students to industry.

“I’m teaching in the design manufacturing area, but I’m really working with industry to bring industry into the classroom,” he said.

Montalvo's Purdue journey comes full circle with his induction into the Hall of Fame. The recognition carries special meaning for him — Montalvo's first Hall of Fame was as a student helper, then later celebrations he attended as staff. He remembers watching inductees return to Purdue with their families and express gratitude for the opportunities that helped shape their careers.

He never expected to become one of them.

“I remember helping organize the Hall of Fame, spending the day there and seeing the inductees with their families,” he said. “It never occurred to me that I would be there one day. Everybody that came always seemed so grateful. It was never them coming here to do us a favor. They were always eager to come and give thanks to the program. That’s my case.”