23. He became Dr. McNair after being awarded a Ph.D. from MIT in 1976
After graduating from North Carolina alongside his older brother Carl in 1971, Ronald went on to even better things. Tom Sandin wrote him a recommendation to the celebrated Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Ronald again won a scholarship. Despite his initial concerns about moving so far from home and attending a predominantly white university, Ronald accepted the funding. Ronald was right to be concerned. As well as encountering institutional racism, he had to work extra hard to work alongside students with superior educational backgrounds. At MIT, he specialized in laser physics, and got his Ph.D. in 1976.
