The Ohio Third Frontier Commission gave Kent State’s Liquid Crystal Institute $7.3 million for its part of a research grant.

LCI Director Oleg Lavrentovich said the money will create two endowed research positions and add a transmission electron microscope for the program.

Kent State’s grant is the largest part of $15.2 million shared with Case Western Reserve University and Youngstown State University.

The money will support a program called the Research Cluster on Surfaces in Advanced Materials, which will integrate research on liquid crystal displays and other “soft matter” materials with Ohio technology companies.

“Creating the conditions that would create new jobs is a big part of this,” Lavrentovich said.

Contact administration reporter Ben Wolford at [email protected].