PULLMAN, Wash. — The Washington State University Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program will showcase research projects completed by the program’s scholars at the Third Annual Research Symposium Aug. 2.
The symposium is set for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Compton Union Building Cascade Room. Posters of the scholars’ research also will be on display throughout the day with scholars available for questions and feedback from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
The McNair Program encourages and prepares low-income, first-generation college students or those of African American, Chicano/Latino or Native American heritage to go on to graduate school and earn doctoral degrees.
The symposium culminates the McNair Summer Research Experience. Scholars worked with faculty mentors on original research projects. The experience is similar to the process of developing a graduate thesis or dissertation and the scholars will prepare the papers for submission to academic journals next year.
The following scholars plan to present: Jesus Barcenas, comparative American cultures; Elise Boxer, history; Majel Boxer, comparative American cultures; Melany Bracking, political science; Selena Castro, communication; Brena Holman, animal science; Tasha Madison, communication; Jennifer Madrigal, comparative American cultures; Eva Navarijo, English; and Erin Slattery, sociology.
The program is named for Ronald E. McNair, an astronaut who died in the 1986 space shuttle Challenger explosion. An African American, McNair’s background included earning a physics doctoral degree. The program is funded by a five-year, $203,000-a-year federal grant through the WSU Graduate School. This is the third year of the five-year grant.
For more information, visit the program’s Web site at www.wsu.edu/~mcnair.
