Congressman Bennie G. Thompson Announces $500,000 NSF Research Award for Jackson State University

BOLTON, MS — Congressman Bennie G. Thompson (MS-02) announced today that Jackson State University (JSU) has been awarded $500,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to advance research into next-generation materials with potential applications in solar energy, optoelectronics and medical imaging.

The three-year award, titled “Excellence in Research: Backreaction of Electron Excitation/De-excitation on Perovskite Lattices, Light-Induced Defect Creation/Annihilation and Charge Trap States,” is supported through the NSF Division of Materials Research and the HBCU Excellence in Research program. The project is scheduled to begin September 1, 2026, and continue through August 31, 2029.

The research will be led by Dr. Jian-Ge Zhou, a faculty member in JSU's Department of Chemistry, Physics and Atmospheric Sciences. Dr. Zhou's research focuses on computational materials science, renewable energy and the study of materials for energy and engineering applications.