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For the next five years, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will continue to help disadvantaged students pursue doctoral degrees through a federal program named for one of the Challenger astronauts.

The Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program is designed to encourage low-income individuals who are first-generation college students or traditionally underrepresented in graduate education to pursue doctoral study.

The grant – more than $1 million over the next five years – will provide these students with
opportunities for research, summer internships, seminars, tutoring, academic counseling, assistance in enrollment in graduate programs and other services and resources.

The program’s namesake, McNair, was an African American who overcame tremendous odds to earn his doctorate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and become an astronaut and member of the Space Shuttle crew.

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