Preparing Undergraduates for Graduate School since 1999

Mission

The McNair Scholars Program at Washington State University prepares undergraduates from underrepresented backgrounds for their future doctoral studies.

Vision

The McNair Scholars Program at WSU will be recognized as the university’s vanguard in preparing undergraduates for graduate education.

Goals

The McNair Scholars Program at WSU will provide program participants with graduate education preparation activities and services to include faculty-mentored research experiences, coursework focused on the craft of research and the culture of graduate education, and academic and career counseling.

McNair Scholar, Zakora Moore, is a bioengineering major who
conducts cutting-edge research on optimizing the growth of cancer-fighting T cells under the guidance of Bernie Van Wie. Zakora won the Crimson Award for her presentation at SURCA, Showcase for Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities.

McNair Highlights

McNair 2023 Graduate Scholars

Congratulations to McNair Graduating Scholars Florence Adesope, Giselle Jimenez, Ayo Adaramola, Tanya Rivera, and Karen Veloz! 👏

McNair at the 24th Annual University of Maryland National McNair Conference

McNair Scholars, Sandy Tlachi-Munoz
presented “The Discussion around Alcohol and Cannabis Use Among first-generation Undergraduate Students in Living Situations;” Akira Park presented “Am I Qualified?: Studying the Inclusion of Asian-American Literature in English Classrooms;” and Katy Ayers presented “Mushroom Mechanics: An Analysis of Fungal Biomaterials for Wild Bee Conservation.”

McNair Scholars 2023 SURCA Award Winners

Our scholars took home 6 of the 43 Awards home this year. Congratulations, Scholars!

Akira Park and Katy Ayers received awards in the Research Proposal Category.

Giselle Jimenez and Karen Veloz won awards in the Social Science Category.

Zakora Moore and Juan Pena won awards in the Engineering and Physical Sciences Category. Read more about SURCA and the award categories HERE.

McNair Newly Promoted Scholars

Congratulations, McNair Students, Alejandra Prado, Akira Park, Areli Orozco, Felicia Adesope, Juan Peña, Julisa Hernandez-Luna, Katy Ayers, Keren Gomez-Villanueva, Moises Carranza, Marcus Foster, Rhea Grace Manzano, Skyler Allison, and Zoe Fichtel! 👏

McNair Award Winners at the
UW Gabriel E. Gallardo Research, Student Leadership and Advocacy Symposium

Congratulations McNair Students, Akira Park and Skyler Allison! 👏 who won 2 of the 4 Best Oral Presentation awards in the UW Gabriel E. Gallardo Research, Student Leadership, and Advocacy Symposium.

Katy Ayers, Udall Undergraduate Scholarship Award Winner

Congratulations!
Upcoming McNair Senior Scholar, Katy, was 1 of the 55 students who received the Udall Undergraduate Scholarship. The Udall Scholarship is a nationally well-known and competitive scholarship where 46 institutions had students competing. Read more HERE.

Travel Grant Winners for the Black Doctoral Network Conference

Congratulations to McNair Scholars, Ayo Adaramola and Florence Adesope, for winning a travel grant to participate in the 10th Annual Black Doctoral Network Conference! 👏

McNair Scholars at SACNAS 2022

Congratulations to McNair Scholars Sandy Tlachi-Munoz and Giselle Jimenez, who attended the SACNAS National Diversity in STEM (NDiS) conference in Puerto Rico.

The SACNAS conference is the largest multidisciplinary and multicultural STEM diversity event in the country. https://lnkd.in/d2dGYtgJ

Jarely Aragón-Ramírez, Gilman Scholarship Award Winner

Jarely McNair Senior Scholar, received the Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship, which is a “federally funded initiative, and the top study abroad award in higher education”. Jarely will be heading off to Japan to study for a semester this fall 2023. Congratulations, Jarely! Read more HERE.

Friends of Northwest Association of Educational Opportunity Programs (NAEOP)

Congratulations to Friends of Northwest Association of Educational Opportunity Programs (NAEOP) Scholastic Achievement Award winner, Katy Ayers!👏

McNair 2022
Fall Gathering
T-minus Talks winners

Congratulations to the McNair Fall Gathering T-minus Talks winners, Senior Scholars Giselle Jimenez and Florence Adesope!!👏

McNair Scholar Sandy Tlachi-Muñoz Research Publication

Sandy Tlachi-Munoz, McNair Senior Scholar, published a research article in The Drug and Alcohol Review with her McNair Faculty mentor, Dr. Jessica Willoughby

The article is titled The impact of sexual scripts in brand-generated cannabis social media posts on sex-related cannabis expectancies: Does body appreciation moderate effects?
Article’s link: https://lnkd.in/efjvBnt5

This grant has been 100% federally funded by the United States Department of Education to serve 27 scholars annually in the amount of $267,841 per year for a period of five years.