McNair Scholars Summer Research Program

We are happy to report that undergraduate research assistant Neil Meyer began participating in the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Summer Research Program on July 31st, 2012. Neil joins a growing alumni of Levy Lab McNair Scholars; in the summer of 2010, Levy Lab alumnus Justin Meyer also participated in the McNair summer program, who is now a graduate student in Clinical Psychology at Texas A&M.

About the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program

The Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program (also known as the McNair Scholars Program) is one of 180 such programs nationwide. First established in 1989 and named after Dr. Ronald E. McNair, this program is designed to help prepare talented undergraduates to enter graduate school and to receive their doctoral degree.

Who was Ronald E. McNair

Ronald McNair was an astronaut-physicist who died aboard the space shuttle Challenger. Dr. McNair's philosophy of life included the following statement,

"Whether or not you reach your goals in life depends entirely on how well you prepare for them and how badly you want them."

Dr. McNair prepared himself for his goals. He grew up in a poor, small town in South Carolina, attended North Carolina A&T as an undergraduate physics major, and enrolled at Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his graduate degrees in physics. Though the path to obtaining his goals was paved with many obstacles, Dr. McNair had the willingness and ability to persevere in the face of overwhelming odds and overcame the difficulties he encountered.