Right before moving to SIU, he directed the interdisciplinary Ingenuity Lab at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.
His previous academic appointments include being the founding chair of the department of bioengineering and biomedical engineering, co-director of the NASA Center for Cell Mimetic Space Exploration, and associate director of the California Nanosystems Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, the director of the biomedical engineering graduate program at Cornell University and the group leader in environmental physics at the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago.
He also served in the U. S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps for nine years, leaving with the rank of lieutenant.
[3] Throughout his career, Montemagno received many awards for his scientific innovations, including the Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (for creating single molecule biological motors with nano-scale silicon devices), the Earth Award Grand Prize (for cell-free artificial photosynthesis with over 95% efficiency) and the CNBC Business Top 10 Green Innovators award (for Aquaporin Membrane water purification and desalination technology).
He also enjoyed dog sports, falconry, ice climbing, science fiction, war movies and disco.