Alabama State University has been awarded an $800,000 grant by the U.S. Department of Energy. The grant was awarded to ASU for a three year project to develop new materials and to train students.

Robert L. Green, an associate professor and chairman of ASU’s Department of Physical and Forensic Sciences, will serve as the principal investigator for the grant and as the scientific expert on the project’s experimental technique.

“This award is a part of the Department of Energy’s Funding for Accelerated, Inclusive Research program, which is focused on building research capacity at academic institutions, like Alabama State, which have been historically underrepresented in the realm of science,” Green said in a news release.

The award provides eight Alabama State University summer internship opportunities, as well as paid research experiences during the academic year over the program’s three-year cycle.

The university will work with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

The project will involve ASU student-faculty partnerships that can leverage additional collaborations with the U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory facilities to conduct groundbreaking research.

Breonna Atkins is a senior at Carver High School in Birmingham and a reporting intern at AL.com through the Birmingham Promise program.