Iowa State student Christopher Johanson has been awarded a fellowship of $7,000 from the national chapter of Phi Kappa Phi honor society.

Johanson, senior in classical studies, qualified for the national award by being recognized for his outstanding academic achievement.

In Phi Kappa Phi’s ISU spring initiation ceremony, Johanson was awarded a $1,500 scholarship for graduate study. However, he said the fellowship award came as quite a surprise.

“I had no clue. I knew I won when I got the money,” he said. “The award was a great surprise. It’s a nice ‘pat on the back’ for academic success.”

Johanson came to ISU as a computer science major, and after taking classes in Latin, he changed his major to the classics.

Johanson, who currently works at the Virtual Reality Center, said his computer science background still is extremely important to him. He said he hopes to use his experience with technology in the future.

“It’s basically my ticket into graduate school,” he said.

Johanson said he will be attending UCLA for his graduate studies. He said he was planning to attend UCLA before he won the fellowship.

Caroline Cruz-Neira, professor of computer and electrical engineering, described Johanson as an excellent student.

“He is really an outstanding student, a very hard worker,” she said. “He really likes what he does.”

Cruz-Neira was approached by Johanson to be his mentor. Cruz-Neira said she accepted his offer because of his enthusiasm.

“It was very clear he had self- motivation; his personality was very pleasant,” she said.