McNair Scholars Program

A federal TRIO program funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire’s Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program prepares eligible undergraduate students for doctoral study through involvement in research and scholarly activities.

Named after U.S. astronaut Dr. Ronald E. McNair, the program recruits eligible students to be “McNair Scholars.” With the support of a dedicated faculty mentor, the two-year program prepares Blugolds for graduate-level studies with an end goal of a doctoral degree. The McNair Scholars Program aligns with the institutional mission of UW-Eau Claire and directly contributes to the university guidepost goal of closing the opportunity gap in higher education.

For more information, please email mcnair.scholars@uwec.edu.

Who was Ronald E. McNair? 

Dr. Ronald E. McNair, who received a Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was the first in his family to graduate from college and receive a doctorate. He grew up in a working-class family in a small South Carolina town during the Civil Rights Movement.

During his youth, Dr. McNair was very talented and became valedictorian of his high school class, opening the door for him to study at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical University under a science scholarship. There he explored his love of science and went on to MIT, where he specialized in research on lasers and received his doctorate in 1976. He joined NASA in 1978. Unfortunately, Dr. McNair died when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded after launch on January 28, 1986.

Dr. McNair encouraged young people to thoughtfully prepare for their futures. “Before you can make a dream come true, you must first have one,” became one of his many mottos. McNair Scholars at UW-Eau Claire fulfill and continue Dr. McNair’s vision—young achievers who are well on their way in the pursuit of their dreams.