Reed Doucette ’08
USC Marshall School of Business
Rhodes Scholar
As a child, USC’s ninth Rhodes Scholar loved science, math and Legos. Never afraid to try something new, he started out at USC as a business major – but switched to aerospace and mechanical engineering (with a business minor) during his sophomore year because he missed the science and math.
“I really like USC’s emphasis on pursuing several fields of study,” he says. “I don’t know if other schools would have been as willing to work with me on my academic goals.”
Doucette spent the summers of 2005 and 2006 at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, researching nanoporous gold foams that hold promise for improving both catalytic converters and medical implants. At USC, his research has spanned chemistry, physics, engineering and biology, with the goal of optimizing solar cells.
As part of his business program, he co-founded Los Angeles Community Impact, an organization that has provided consulting services to more than 30 nonprofits and small for-profit companies in the local community.
The 6’5” Doucette also joined the men’s basketball team as a freshman walk-on and played small forward for four years – appearing in 17 games during his Trojan career.
He has been named a USC Presidential Scholar and a Provost’s Undergraduate Research Fellow, and earned the title of “Mr. USC” by the highly selective Order of the Torch.
As if all of that weren’t enough, Doucette is one of only 32 Americans to be awarded a Rhodes Scholarship for 2008. Packing up his basketball shoes, tennis racquet and banjo, he’s off to Oxford University, where he’ll spend the next two years studying for a master’s degree in engineering science.