Established in the late Dr. McNair’s honor by the Black Alumni/ae of MIT, the scholarship "recognizes a black undergraduate who has demonstrated strong academic performance and who has made a considerable contribution to the minority community." An MIT alumnus (Course 8, PhD '77) Dr. McNair was a physicist and astronaut. He died in the January 28, 1986 launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger on which he was the Mission Specialist. MIT Building 37 in named in his honor.