Stewart Selected for Southern Miss McNair Scholars Program

University of Southern Mississippi student Bianca Stewart of Gulfport has been selected as a scholar in the prestigious Ronald E. McNair Scholars Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program. The program is designed to prepare undergraduate college students for doctoral studies through involvement in research and other scholarly activities.

Stewart, a senior working to earn her bachelor of science degree in geography, plans to earn her doctoral degree in a specialized program centered around urban studies. Having always been interested in the urban landscape, Stewart says she wants to learn more about urban communities and “how they shift in tandem with the world around them to become, or maintain, a sound environment and ideal quality of life.”

The Southern Miss McNair Scholars Program was established in 1999 to honor Dr. Ronald E. McNair, an astronaut killed on the Challenger space shuttle in 1986. All scholars are required to participate in a research program, which includes summer classes and mentoring by a faculty researcher and graduate assistant. The research program results in a completed scholarly research paper and formal academic presentation made at the annual Southern Miss McNair Symposium.

“Being selected as a McNair Scholar for this wonderful program assured me that, in spite of those days where we are diffident and unsure of ourselves, hard work does not go unnoticed,” said Stewart. “I am eternally grateful for such an amazing opportunity to be equipped with the necessary tools for graduate studies and the endless opportunities provided by the McNair Scholars Program.”

For more information about the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Post-baccalaureate Achievement Program at Southern Miss, visit www.usm.edu/federal-trio-programs.