The McNair Scholars Program was established at UConn during the 2012-13 academic year. UConn is one of nearly 200 institutions across the United States receiving funds for this federal TRIO program funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The program was developed in honor of Dr. Ronald E. McNair and was designed to prepare undergraduate students for doctoral studies through involvement in research and scholarly activities with the ultimate goal of increasing graduate degree awards for students from under resourced segments of society.

In addition to supporting the McNair Scholars, UConn also has university funding to support more students in the same program as the McNair Scholars – named the CAPS Research Scholars.

And, the CAPS Research Apprentice opportunity gives students a chance to explore being an undergraduate researcher for an entire semester and prepares them for success in the CAPS Research/McNair Scholars Program.

Alumni have gone on to pursue graduate study at a number of institutions including Boston University, Brown University, Harvard University, University of California-Berkeley, UCLA, UConn School of Medicine, University of Texas, UMass Chan Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Virginia, The Ohio State University, Penn State, and Weill Cornell Medicine.