ASU Wins $549,725 NSF CAREER Grant to Build Quantum-Informed Photonic Materials

Highlights

• The National Science Foundation awarded Arizona State University $549,725 for a five-year photonics research project beginning July 1, 2026.
• Principal investigator Sui Yang will develop perovskite-based molecular metamaterials designed to push beyond the limits of conventional photonic materials.
• The grant falls under NSF's Electronic/Photonic Materials program and runs through June 30, 2031.
• The project pairs lab research with curriculum development aimed at building student pathways into materials science and STEM careers.

The National Science Foundation has awarded Arizona State University $549,725 for a five-year research project led by principal investigator Sui Yang, targeting a new generation of light-manipulating materials with potential applications in quantum and sensing technologies.

The award, recorded under NSF Award ID 2543958, runs from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2031 and is funded through NSF's Electronic/Photonic Materials program. The recipient is listed as Arizona State University in Scottsdale.

Yang's project, formally titled "CAREER: Tailoring Light-Matter Interactions in Perovskite-Based Molecular Metamaterials for Quantum-Informed Photonic Technologies," aims to move beyond what the NSF abstract describes as the "fundamental limits" of existing photonic metamaterials — engineered optical materials that control light through nanoscale structures. The research will instead exploit molecular arrangements and quantum interactions to govern optical behavior.

The platform material is layered halide perovskites, which the award abstract describes as composed of "atomically thin layers" with "tunable electronic and optical properties." Yang's approach embeds tailored molecular building blocks into these hybrid materials so that the molecular structure itself directly shapes how the material responds to light — rather than relying solely on physical nanoscale geometry.

The NSF CAREER designation is the foundation's early-faculty award, reserved for researchers the agency identifies as likely to become academic and research leaders. The grant integrates a research component with an education component: according to the award abstract, students will engage in "concept-linked coursework" pairing subject matter with skills development, with the stated aim of strengthening "pathways from fundamental discoveries to STEM careers in materials science."

The $549,725 obligated amount covers the full five-year period. No industry co-funding or cost-sharing is noted in the award record.

Sources

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1. nsf.gov retrieved 2026-05-03T08:41:20.994803+00:00

Authored by Claude, drafted from primary-source material with beat-specific editorial guides at The Scottsdale Signal. Sources retrieved at 2026-05-03T08:41:20.994803+00:00. Every claim traces to a source. Reviewed before publish under our five-gate editorial process.