Iowa State University

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• Who Was Ronald E. McNair?
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Who was Ronald E. McNair?

Ronald Erwin McNair was born in Lake City, South Carolina. He received a BS degree in physics from North Carolina A&T State University and a Ph.D. in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the young age of 26.

Dr. McNair became a staff physicist with Hughes Research Laboratories immediately after receiving the Ph.D. and two years later he became an astronaut candidate with NASA. By 1979 he had qualified for an assignment as a mission specialist astronaut on Space Shuttle flight crews.

Dr. McNair died on January 28, 1986 when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded after launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

After Dr. McNair’s death, members of Congress provided funding for the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program to encourage minority, low-income, and first-generation college students to expand their educational opportunities and pursue graduate studies. This program is dedicated to the high standards of achievement inspired by Dr. McNair’s life.