The McNair Scholar's Research Journal began in the Fall of 2008. It is published annually and includes student scholarship, across disciplines, that students create to help them prepare for graduate level research.
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McNair Scholars Research Journal XVI
St. Mary's University
This is the sixteenth journal for the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary's University
"Congratulations to the 2023 McNair Scholars on a wonderful summer of research… and congratulations to the McNair Program on a new, five year grant! It is amazing to realize that St. Mary’s was first funded for a Ronald E. McNair Post-baccalaureate Achievement grant in 2007 and that this marks our fourth consecutive successful funding. I say it is amazing because it seems like only yesterday we were receiving the exciting news this wonderful program would be available to help St. Mary’s students achieve their doctoral dreams. On the other hand, as I write this I reflect on the many scholars who have gone through the program and realize, it has been 16 years. Today, we can proudly say that the program is making a difference and that our scholars are entering and completing doctoral programs across the nation and pursuing careers in academia and industry. There is no bigger thrill than welcoming an alumnus back to campus with, “Welcome home, Dr.” For many of these now accomplished individuals, the McNair summer research experience was the first step of their journey. It is now my pleasure to present the work of the 2023 McNair Scholars and I welcome you to join them in celebrating this auspicious start."
- Jennifer Zwahr-Castro PhD - Director
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McNair Scholars Research Journal Volume XV
St. Mary's University
This is the fifteenth journal for the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary's University.
"Research is the process to discover new knowledge and, arguably, the major endeavor associated with earning a doctoral degree. While undergraduates are busy acquiring a foundation in their specific disciplines, all are in some measure focusing on the history of those areas- studying what is already known. Summer research is an opportunity for McNair Scholars to engage in the work that will comprise a majority of their doctoral experience- exploring new topics, collecting data, and building their disciplines. One might say that after many years of living in a house, now these scholars are building a house. This is an exciting experience for scholars and thrilling for their mentors and the McNair program staff to observe. This year’s journal includes offerings from scholars of different majors utilizing a variety of methodologies and exploring various unique topics. What these projects all share is the building- pushing the boundaries of what is known and opening new vistas to inquiry. We are excited to welcome you along on this journey."
- Jennifer Zwahr-Castro PhD - Director & Joshua A. Dunn PhD - Assistant Director
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McNair Scholars Research Journal Volume XIV
St. Mary's University
This is the fourteenth journal for the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary's University.
"After yet another year of complexities, concerns, and adaptations to many changes, our Scholars have once more completed a strong summer research program! We believe Dr. Ronald McNair would be extremely proud of how students benefiting from the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary’s University have responded to unprecedented challenges. In spite of local and global challenges, these students keep their eyes set on a future which only a short time ago was unimaginable. Now, they are taking steps into a world they will lead, form, strengthen, and inspire. Please enjoy the latest work of the McNair Scholars, and keep an eye out for them in the future! It will be here before we know it."
- Jennifer Zwahr-Castro, PhD, Director & Samadhi Metta Bexar, PhD, Assistant Director, II
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McNair Scholars Research Journal Volume XIII
St. Mary's University
This is the fourteenth journal for the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary's University.
"After yet another year of complexities, concerns, and adaptations to many changes, our Scholars have once more completed a strong summer research program! We believe Dr. Ronald McNair would be extremely proud of how students benefiting from the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary’s University have responded to unprecedented challenges. In spite of local and global challenges, these students keep their eyes set on a future which only a short time ago was unimaginable. Now, they are taking steps into a world they will lead, form, strengthen, and inspire. Please enjoy the latest work of the McNair Scholars, and keep an eye out for them in the future! It will be here before we know it."
- Jennifer Zwahr-Castro, PhD, Director & Samadhi Metta Bexar, PhD, Assistant Director, II
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McNair Scholars Research Journal Volume XII
St. Mary's University
This is the twelfth journal for the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary's University.
"What a long, strange summer it has been! This summer, twenty-three McNair scholars representing the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; the Greehey School of Business; and the School of Science, Engineering, and Technology at St. Mary’s University forged a new path by completing our first-ever virtual research experience. More than any previous McNair cohort, these scholars gained important new skills as they mastered not only their individual research topics, but also a wealth of new technologies. During a typical summer, scholars are secluded together on campus, living in a community and supporting one another in frequent daily interactions in seminars and laboratories. This summer, scholars were living off campus at locations across the state, country, and internationally. The person in the next room was not another scholar, struggling with the same time constraints and tasks, but a parent, roommate, sibling, or grandparent who may not have understood what the scholars were trying to accomplish. Despite the challenges and distractions, these scholars excelled, proving themselves intelligent, motivated, creative, and resilient. Although we can hope we will never find ourselves forced into a summer like this again, the lessons and triumphs of this experience will serve our scholars well in the coming years as they confront life’s unexpected challenges. Please enjoy these fruits of a very productive, albeit very unusual, McNair Scholars Summer Research Experience."
- Jennifer Zwahr-Castro, PhD, Director, II
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McNair Scholars Research Journal Volume XI
St. Mary's University
This is the eleventh journal for the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary's University.
"Research is the product of creativity, ingenuity, study, and very hard work. The results of our scholars' work with their mentors are in this journal. As students continue to explore their fields, each will expand academic skills to contribute to the larger work of scholarly research. Thanks are due to the mentors and staff, as well as families, who work with our scholars and encourage them to excel. All of us are grateful for your support and time spent with our McNair Scholars."
- Jennifer Zwahr-Castro, PhD, Director & Samadhi Metta Bexar, PhD, Assistant Director, I
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McNair Scholars Research Journal Volume X
St. Mary's University
This is the tenth journal for the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary's University.
"St. Mary’s University, founded in 1852, is a Hispanic Serving Institution, the oldest and largest Catholic university in the Southwest. We are majority female & Hispanic, with over 74% of our undergraduates members of an underrepresented group & more than 20% low-income, first-generation students. The McNair Scholars Program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education to prepare undergraduate students for doctoral study through involvement in research and other scholarly activities. It was established in honor of Challenger astronaut and laser physicist Dr. Ronald E. McNair. Since our funding in 2007, over 150 students have become St. Mary’s McNair Scholars and have pursued graduate education throughout the nation at universities including Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Michigan, Yale, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Oklahoma, Alabama, Tulane, Fordham, and many others. Recently, our success has come full circle, with a scholar returning to St. Mary’s with her PhD as a full-time faculty member & McNair scholar mentor. The assistant director, Dr. Samadhi Metta Bexar, is also a St. Mary’s alumna who returned to San Antonio to serve students from a similar background: first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented in graduate school. But the McNair program has faced challenges. In 2017, comments by an OMB official questioning the success of several TRiO initiatives led to discussions regarding future funding. McNair students & staff were instrumental in replying to the inaccurate comments & contacting officials to secure the integrity of TRiO funding. In Texas, home to most St. Mary’s students, only 24.5% of the population holds a bachelor’s degree or higher. Texans continue to lag behind the national average at all levels of educational attainment. Among those 25 and older, 8.2% of Texas residents held graduate degrees compared to 10% nationally (US Bureau of the Census). These inequalities in achievement are reflected in the make-up of the professoriate & impact the availability of role models for our scholars & students. In spite of these and other challenges, our students continue to press forward in their studies & research, examples of which you will read here. With determination, enthusiasm, and encouragement, students propel themselves into a future which was perhaps unimaginable only 20 years ago. Attaining the PhD is not only a career decision for our students; they are animated by the desire to create a more equitable and diverse community & society. Over the course of their research with dedicated mentors, these students have created material pushing the boundaries of knowledge now and establishing guidelines for their future. Beyond that, they have begun to grasp their potential and the power of their voices. All in all, McNair Scholars aim for more than the stars that Dr. McNair studied and dreamed of: they have their eyes set on graduate school and beyond."
- Samadhi Metta Bexar, PhD, Assistant Director & Jennifer Zwahr-Castro, PhD, Director, IV
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McNair Scholars Research Journal Volume IX
St. Mary's University
This is the ninth journal for the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary's University.
"I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world." -- Rainer MAria Rilke, Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God Committing to a research topic can be joyful and painful. Some scholars struggle with finding the perfect topic without realizing that perfection is an unattainable goal. Others find so many intriguing topic that they struggle to settle on a single project. And, of course, the struggle continues as theories and hypotheses are chosen and than discarded, analysis plans are developed and found lacking, and results lead down paths not found on any known map. The results of those struggles of our 2016 McNair Scholars are found in the pages of this journal. In each case, scholars learned more than they set out to learn and accomplished more than they may have thought possible --or perhaps desirable. Our hope is that the research process served to hone scholars' skills and broaden their knowledge in a manner that will positively affect their future endeavors and the world that awaits them."
- Jennifer Zwahr-Castro, PhD, Director, St. Mary's University McNair Scholars Program, 1
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McNair Scholars Research Journal Volume VIII
St. Mary's University
This is the eighth journal for the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary's University.
"Congratulations to the scholar-authors whose work is published in this edition of the McNair Scholars Research Journal. As always, I am impressed with the diverse topics and creative work of our scholars and look forward to their future publications. These projects are, in most cases, the result of a minimum of sixteen weeks of close collaboration with a mentor who is an expert in the scholar's field of study. The opportunity to work in close concert with an accomplished mentor is a key component of the McNair Program. Mentors gave up a large portion of their summer and a significant portion of their spring semester in order to prepare scholars for these projects. Without the expertise of our mentors, scholars would not have been able to produce these high quality projects. On behalf of our scholars, it is my pleasure to dedicate this volume to their mentors."
- Jennifer Zwahr-Castro, PhD, Director, St. Mary's University McNair Scholars Program, pg.1
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McNair Scholars Research Journal VII
St. Mary's University
This is the seventh journal for the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary's University.
"The Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program is a federally funded TRIO program that was designed to honor Dr. McNair by supporting and encouraging first generation, low-income students from groups traditionally underrepresented in graduate education to pursue and earn doctoral degrees. St. Mary’s University McNair Scholars Program has now received its second award, enabling the program to serve another cohort of deserving undergraduates. St. Mary’s program is unique in that it includes students from Humanities & Social Sciences, the Bill Greehey School of Business and the school of Science, Engineering and Technology. Each scholar worked closely with a mentor from his or her specific discipline to complete an appropriate research project. Many of these mentors are faculty members at St. Mary’s, but others are from outside universities and agencies. Each of these mentors deserves special recognition for the dedication shown in preparing these scholars for their future. For many of the individuals whose work is here presented, this is the first published research in what will be a long and productive career. We are pleased to provide a forum to showcase these works and look forward to following the careers of these students through their doctoral studies and beyond."
- Jennifer Zwahr-Castro, PhD, Director, St. Mary's University McNair Scholars Program, VI
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McNair Scholars Research Journal Volume VI
St. Mary's University
This is the sixth journal for the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary's University.
"The Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program is a federally funded program that was designed to honor Dr. McNair by supporting and encouraging firstgeneration, low-income students from groups traditionally underrepresented in graduate education to pursue and earn doctoral degrees. St. Mary’s University McNair Scholars Program has now received its second award, enabling the program to serve another cohort of deserving undergraduates. St. Mary’s program is unique in that it includes students from Humanities & Social Sciences, the Bill Greehey School of Business and the school of Science, Engineering and Technology. Each scholar worked closely with a mentor from his or her specific discipline to complete an appropriate research project. Many of these mentors are faculty members at St. Mary’s, but others are from outside universities and agencies. Each of these mentors deserves special recognition for their dedication to these scholars and their future. For many of the individuals whose work is here presented, this is the first published work in what will be a long and productive career. We are so very pleased to provide a forum to showcase these works and look forward to following the careers of these students through their doctoral studies and beyond."
- Jennifer Zwahr-Castro, PhD, Director, St. Mary's University McNair Scholars Program
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McNair Scholars Research Journal Volume V
St. Mary's University
This is the fifth journal for the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary's University.
"In October of 2007, St. Mary’s University received the very happy news that we had been awarded our first Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program grant- and the world changed just a bit for St. Mary’s undergraduate students. The McNair Program was funded with the charge to facilitate the pursuit of graduate degrees among students traditionally underrepresented in graduate education. St. Mary’s program would be unique in that it would include students from Humanities & Social Sciences, the Bill Greehey School of Business and the school of Science, Engineering and Technology. These students would differ in many ways, but all would share a common aspiration- to join the professoriate and change the face of American higher education. This journal represents the final class of McNair scholars supported by that grant. Each scholar was mentored during his or her project by a dedicated expert in his or her area of interest. Many of these mentors are faculty members at St. Mary’s, but others are from outside universities and agencies. Each of these mentors deserves special recognition for their dedication to these scholars and their future. Five years from its inception, the St. Mary’s University McNair Scholars Program is preparing to celebrate our first doctoral degree recipients. The scholars whose work is represented in this volume are embarking on a journey that will lead to their doctoral degrees in a few short years. This commemorates great beginnings from those who will build the future of higher education in our country. It has been our pleasure to work with these students and we look forward to celebrating their future accomplishments".
- Jennifer Zwahr-Castro, PhD Director, St. Mary’s University McNair Scholars Program
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McNair Scholars Research Journal Volume IV
St. Mary's University
This is the third journal for the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary's University.
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McNair Scholars Journal Volume III
St. Mary's University
This is the third journal for the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary's University.
"This journal represents the efforts of an outstanding group of students who participated in the St. Mary's University McNair Scholars Program during 2010 and 2011 and completed research during the summer of 2010".
- Jennifer Zwahr-Castro, PhD, Director, St. Mary's University McNair Scholars Program, VII
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McNair Scholars Journal Volume II
St. Mary's University
This is the second journal for the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary's University.
"This journal represents the efforts of 24 outstanding students who participated in the St. Mary's University McNair Scholars Program during 2009-2010"
- Jennifer Zwahr-Castro, PhD, Director, St. Mary's University McNair Scholars Program, VII
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McNair Scholars Journal Volume I
St. Mary's University
This is the first journal for the McNair Scholars Program at St. Mary's University.
"This journal represents the hard work and determination of the inaugural class of St. Mary's scholars who completed these projects during the summer of 2008"
- Jennifer Zwahr-Castro, PhD, Director, St. Mary's University McNair Scholars Program, V