Montana Tech professor honored with national award

BUTTE, Mont. — Montana Technological University’s Dr. Richard LaDouceur has been selected as one of five national recipients of the 2025 National TRIO Achiever Award, a prestigious accolade honoring individuals who have overcome adversity to achieve excellence. LaDouceur will accept the award in Chicago on September 9, 2025, and deliver a five-minute speech to a room full of peers with similarly powerful backstories.

The awardees are all alumni of federally funded TRIO programs, which are designed to serve first generation, income eligible, and students with disabilities. TRIO provides opportunities in academic development, financial literacy, career awareness, and other college requirements. The Council for Opportunity in Education, which presents the award, is a nonprofit organization, established in 1981, dedicated to furthering the expansion of college opportunities for low-income, first-generation students, and students with disabilities.

“Dr. LaDouceur’s story reflects the heart of what TRIO is all about—resilience, mentorship, and transformation,” President of the Council for Opportunity in Education Kimberly Jones said. “He is not only an accomplished engineer and educator, but a committed champion for students from backgrounds like his own.”

Dr. LaDouceur joins the ranks of past National TRIO Achiever Award recipients such as U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock, Academy Award-winning actress Viola Davis, best-selling author Sarah Smarsh, and retired NASA astronaut José Hernández. Please visit coenet.org for more information about the National TRIO Achiever Award or to purchase tickets to the 2025 Educational Opportunity Dinner.

“I’ve known Rick since my first year at Montana Tech as a faculty member (Fall 2012) and am proud to call him my friend and colleague,” Interim Dean of the Lance College of Mines and Engineering Dr. Jack Skinner said. “I was lucky enough to have him in class and serve as advisor for his capstone senior design project over ten years ago. As I read Rick’s description of his non-linear path and reflect on his trajectory, I am deeply proud of Rick and feel fortunate to be a small part of his professional path. He has continued to excel at teaching our next generation of leaders, conducting meaningful research, and providing one-of-a-kind service to our students, institution, and community. Rick embodies the life-changing impact possible from an education at Montana Tech, when the individual fully embraces their potential and approaches their education with a mindset of personal growth and benefit to society.”

"Dr. LaDouceur's selection for the National TRIO Achiever Award is a truly special moment not only for Montana Tech’s TRIO Programs but for the entire Montana Tech community," Executive Director of the Institute for Educational Opportunities and award nominator Theresa Rader said. "His story embodies the very purpose of TRIO programs and proves that with the right support, students from all backgrounds can not only succeed but become extraordinary leaders and role models. This award celebrates not only his success but also the profound impact he's had on countless students and colleagues."

For LaDouceur, who is both interim department head for mechanical engineering and a materials science researcher, this award carries special meaning. "It’s the first award I’ve ever received that I actually feel," he said. “It’s not just for doing my job—it’s a reflection of where I came from.”

Raised in the Silver Bow Homes in Butte, Montana, LaDouceur grew up in a household reliant on food stamps and assistance programs. His parents divorced when he was two, and his early life was shaped by instability and scarcity. “I was good at school. School became the way to differentiate myself,” he said. “It insulated me.”

A pivotal shift came when LaDouceur joined the Upward Bound program through the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which was coordinated by an aunt. The federally funded college prep initiative is a TRIO program geared toward low-income and first-generation students. “I spent four summers in Las Vegas through Upward Bound,” he said. “It gave me the tools I needed. When I returned to college 10 years later, I knew exactly how to apply.”

LaDouceur’s educational journey took a nonlinear path. After dropping out during his first year of college, he moved to Chicago, worked at a paper mill, started a family, and eventually returned to Butte. When his daughter received a diagnosis of blindness, he chose to become a stay-at-home father—and remarkably, returned to college.

Eventually earning his Ph.D., LaDouceur now leads the Carbon High Temperature Advanced Research (CHAR) Lab at Montana Tech, where he and his team develop cutting-edge technologies for the U.S. Army and other national partners. His current projects include forest waste reuse, airborne CO₂ sequestration, and biochar production—research with real-world environmental and defense applications.

LaDouceur also mentors high school students from Upward Bound, integrating them into the sponsored research projects, not just creating something for them to do. The Upward Bound researchers this summer worked on a biochar project extracting cellulose from woodchips. Another student is now considering a STEM career because of their time in his lab.

“These kids don’t always have examples of scientists,” LaDouceur said. “They don’t know that science is even a career option. Upward Bound shows them that they belong.”

He worries, though, about the future of programs like Upward Bound. "With federal budget cuts, programs that serve disadvantaged students are vulnerable," he said. "But they’re critical. You can’t quantify the value of helping a student become a contributing member of society."

As he prepares for his speech in Chicago, LaDouceur says he’s still not sure what he’ll say—but he knows what the award means. "It took me 10 years to learn how to work. I never had that modeled growing up. But now I get to be the example I never had."