October 13, 2025
Category: News
Montgomery & Associates is pleased to announce that Patrick Wickham, P.G., Hydrogeologist in the Pasadena office, was honored with a Groundwater Resources Association (GRA) award. The Emerging Groundwater Professional Award recognizes GRA members who are younger than 35, have been in the industry fewer than 10 years, and contribute to GRA’s vision of sustainable groundwater for all. Patrick was presented with this award at GRA’s Western Groundwater Congress held in San Diego.
Since he joined Montgomery & Associates in 2019, Patrick has specialized in groundwater modeling and machine learning applications. He plays an important role in groundwater sustainability planning and implementation across California. His work has included groundwater sustainability plans (GSPs) and annual reports and developing innovative modeling tools to enhance decision making. Patrick developed Machine Learning Guided Optimization (MLGO!) of numerical groundwater model simulations to improve water supply while achieving groundwater sustainability.
Cameron Tana, P.E., Principal Hydrologist and California Operations Manager, and Lisa Porta, P.E., Principal Water Resources Engineer and California Water Strategy Lead, nominated Patrick for this award. They said:
Patrick is a diligent and passionate hydrogeologist. He consistently delivers high quality work and contributes at M&A and to the GRA community. He promotes GRA and is starting to mentor students and others interested in working in the water industry. Patrick is a great communicator and works on each task with integrity. As a key member of our modeling team, Patrick is advancing novel techniques and methods, coaching younger staff, and supporting Project Managers with task leadership.
Patrick serves as president of GRA’s Southern California Branch and a subject matter expert for the California Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists.
Montgomery & Associates is a longtime supporter and annual sponsor of GRA. For information on our services in California, please visit our website or contact Lisa.
Lisa Porta poses with Patrick Wickham after presenting him with GRA’s Emerging Groundwater Professional Award.
Patrick accepts his GRA award.
