[2] She earned first class honours in mathematics and classical studies at the University of Canterbury in 1999, and completed a master's degree there in 2000.
[1] It was not until the fourth year of her studies that, finding a copy of Euclid in the original Greek, she realized that she could reconcile her two interests by working in the history of mathematics.
[3][6] She completed a Ph.D. in the history of mathematics there in 2005;[1] at Brown, her faculty mentors included David Pingree, Alice Slotsky, and Kim Plofker.
[7] Montelle was vice president of the Commission for the History of Ancient and Medieval Astronomy for the 2017–2021 term.
[8] Montelle is the author of the book Chasing Shadows: Mathematics, Astronomy, and the Early Reckoning of Eclipse theory (Johns Hopkins Press, 2011).