America’s first black astronaut is being honored today at 4 p.m. in McPherson Chemical Laboratory. The Department of Chemistry and the Ohio State administration will name McPherson Laboratory room 1000 after OSU alumnus Major Robert H. Lawrence Jr.Bruce Bursten, chairman of the Department of Chemistry, is eager to make the dedication.”It is an opportunity to honor a true American hero,” Bursten said.Lawrence graduated from OSU with a doctorate in chemistry in 1965. Immediately afterwards, he went to the Air Force Astronaut Training School and participated in the Air Force Manned Orbiting Lab Program. In 1967, Lawrence died in an accident during a training flight. Thirty years later, after much debate over whether he actually was an astronaut, the Air Force officially named Lawrence the first black American astronaut.”It is our mission in the years ahead to build on his legacy,” said President William “Brit” Kirwan.The university is indeed building on his legacy in many ways. Not only is OSU naming a room after Lawrence, they are also in the process of raising funds for a scholarship to be given to minority chemistry majors in his name.”By naming a facility in Major Lawrence’s honor we are signaling to the entire university community that he is a leader of whom we are most proud,” Kirwan said.