Scholarship
helps students’ research
By
Krystle Ralston
Daily Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
If you are a driven student who dreams of one day holding a degree that spells
out Ph.D., Cal State Long Beach has a program that helps make that dream a
reality.
The McNair Scholars Program is named in honor of the late Ronald E. McNair,
a NASA astronaut and physicist who died in the 1986 Challenger explosion. The
program was funded in 1995 and started in 1996 to give unrepresented students
the opportunity to achieve an advanced degree in their field of study.
The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education and currently serves
40 students, 25 of them are being funded as they pursue research that will
get them one step closer to their doctorate.
Robert Wray, director of the McNair Scholars Program, is proud of the outcomes
the program has made possible.
“Our first Ph.D. graduate, Stephanie Evans, currently is assisting the
professor of African American studies and women’s studies at the University
of Florida. Our second Ph.D. graduate, Kagba Suaray, is now teaching here at
CSULB in the math department.”
The program includes various training and preparation, according to Wray, including
Saturday workshops during the fall and spring semesters, a six-week workshop
during the summer and a one-week preparation for the GRE––the test
needed to get into graduate school.
The training not only includes what is
needed to help obtain information needed for a research project, but also choosing
the proper topic and finding financial aid, he said. They are awarded a cash
stipend for their summer research, and students who qualify can also live on-campus
for free during their summer sessions.
Unlike other scholarship programs, McNair focuses on academic research, Wray
said. The students work with a faculty research mentor who assists them in
their research. Students eligible for the program have to have a 3.0 cumulative
G.P.A. and show a strong interest in earning their Ph.D.
They must be a sophomore,
junior or senior. They must also be students who are low-income and members
of an underrepresented group in the field of graduate study.
The application requirements, available at www.csulb.edu/~ees/pages/mcnair.html,
are similar to that of applying to attend an Ivy League college. There is an
application form, statement of purpose that explains what students plan to
bring to the program, three recommendation letters, two of which need to be
from professors who teach the subject the student is pursuing, and an interview
with program representatives.
Programs such as these exist for the individuals who were brought up to believe
they would never be able to acquire a degree. |
