Tech valedictorian Jakob Nielsen aims 'to make something of my life and have fun doing it'

Jakob Nielsen felt bored and stymied during the pandemic. While still a sophomore at Butte High School, he reached out to the founding director of the Montana Tech Nanotechnology Laboratory.

The following year, Butte native Nielsen, then 17, started working part time in the lab, which houses electron microscopes and other specialty equipment valued at more than $5 million.

A cousin at Montana Tech, McKenna Savage, had encouraged Nielsen to contact Jack Skinner, Ph.D., now dean of the Lance College of Mines and Engineering.

“It has been a pleasure seeing Jakob mature in his career over the last several years,” Skinner said recently.

Nielsen, now 22, got an early foot in the door doing research and said those experiences helped him decide to stay at Montana Tech for undergraduate study instead of attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

“You don’t always get the opportunity to start research as early or build those relationships at larger universities,” he said. “At these larger colleges, it gets handed down through a kind of seniority system.”

Nielsen graduates Saturday as a valedictorian at Montana Tech.

The Butte native’s academic and professional future seems full of promise. To refer to Nielsen as a “go-getter” would be an understatement.

He smiled when it was suggested many teens bored during the pandemic might have turned to video games or other mundane activities instead of volunteering in a nanotechnology lab.

“I love to play video games and, you know, I still like to go out in the hills and hunt and fish,” Nielsen said. “But there’s also been that side of me that’s always known I would want to go into STEM. And I’ve always been interested in research, anything that comes up about science, physics, chemistry and engineering. That’s been true since early high school.”

Tom Nielsen, Jakob’s father, offered his perspective.

“I’m positive Jakob took interest in math and science right away,” he said. “As soon as he started going to school, he seemed very excited.

“Jakob was always interested in the stars and the moon,” Tom Nielsen said. “We bought him a nice telescope for Christmas one year, and he seemed to spend a great deal of time outside in the front yard picking out the planets and moon.”

Lissa Nielsen, Jakob’s mother, shared similar thoughts.

“Jakob has always been fascinated with learning — especially math and science,” she said. “I can remember as soon as he started counting, we would play counting games in the car. As he got a little older, these would become addition and subtraction and some multiplication games.”

Lissa Nielsen found a way to keep Jakob quiet in situations that demanded it. She would give him a handful of change and ask him to total its amount. Nielsen was also interested in sports and was active in several while at Butte High School. Other extra-curricular activities included Science National Honor Society, National Honor Society and Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Nielsen has been selected to receive two prestigious research fellowships: the 2026 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and the Richard and Peggy Notebaert Premier Fellowship from the University of Notre Dame. Both provide annual financial stipends.

“Notre Dame! How can I express how proud we are?” Tom Nielsen said.

He said the prestigious fellowships are clear evidence of how hard his son has worked.

Lissa Nielsen agreed.

“We are just so proud of all Jakob's accomplishments,” she said. “Jakob has worked so hard to get to where he is, he is going to do really great things. It has been so fun having a front-row seat.”

Tom is the manager at Interstate Body Shop in Butte, and Lissa works at REC Silicon. Jakob has an older sister, Brynlee.

Nielsen plans to complete a Ph.D. at Notre Dame in nuclear chemistry. As envisioned, his research will focus on improving the sustainability of nuclear energy systems, including methods to recycle nuclear fuel and reduce waste.

He said he believes nuclear energy will gain traction as data centers and other power-hungry customers stress the grid, as memories continue fading of the nuclear disasters at Chernobyl and Fukushima and as new technologies emerge.

The path to Notre Dame included attending the Nuclear Chemistry Summer School at Brookhaven Laboratory in the summer of 2025. Nielsen met Amy Hixon, who will be his doctoral adviser at Notre Dame.

Separately, an internship with NorthWesterEnergy n also convinced Nielsen of the need to pursue nuclear energy.

Nielsen is considering several post-Ph.D. career paths, including working as a principal investigator at a national laboratory, returning to academia as a professor, or launching a company in the nuclear energy sector.

Nielsen attributes his academic success to Butte High teachers Todd Finstead, Julie Johns, Lindsey Kambich, Scott Cooney and Arie Grey.

Montana Tech mentors have included Stacey Corbitt and Skinner, along with Richard LaDouceur, Ph.D., Jessica Andriolo, Ph.D., and Melissa Deri, Ph.D.

He readily acknowledges his academic prowess does not include writing. He said he’s received valuable writing help through the years from Kambich, Corbitt, LaDouceur and Marisa Pedulla, Ph.D.

“All of them have been really fundamental in helping me with the part I feel I most lack,” Nielsen said.

LaDouceur expressed appreciation for Nielsen.

“It has been incredible getting to know and being able to help Jakob as he has pursued his goals,” he said. “Working with him for the last three years as he has pursued these nationwide scholarships and fellowships really emphasizes why the job of a professor is the best job in the world.”

Nielsen leaves Montana Tech girded by awards. He is the recipient of the Chester H. Steele Award, which recognizes the top graduating senior in engineering with the highest scholastic achievement. He also was named the 2026 Gold Medal Award recipient by the Montana Society of Engineers.

Nielsen was asked whether the awards and achievements and the celebrated path ahead create expectations, either internally or externally, and pressure for future attainments.

“I like to think I’m a pretty simple person,” he said. “This is what I enjoy doing. I’m really, really humbled by getting these awards and all the recognition, but this is what I like to do.

“I want to be able to make a difference, to make something of my life and still have fun while doing it. I feel really lucky.”