Sarah Fowler

The Clarion-Ledger

State-of-the-art technology will soon be coming to Mississippi.

And it will be arriving in a material already used to strengthen tennis rackets, increase the longevity of lithium ion batteries and in paint to reduce corrosion.

With the launch of the National Graphene Association in Oxford, founder Ed Meek hopes a new technology revolution will start in the Magnolia State. The association also has offices in Nashville and Washington D.C.

“Graphene has been around a long time, it’s basically lead in your pencil,” Meek said. “It’s the strongest, thinnest most conductive, pliable material known to man.”

Meek, a former assistant vice chancellor at the University of Mississippi, said he believes “graphene is going to impact every industry.”

Graphene, a 2D material, is found in a variety of everyday products and is 200 times stronger than steel and more conductive than silicone.

“I’m just the messenger,” Meek said.

According to Graphenea, a private European company that produces graphene for industrial applications, Samsung and other consumer electronics companies have been pouring money into researching the uses of graphene in telecommunications and electronics with the goal of developing flexible touchscreen devices such as mobile smartphones and wrist watches.

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Currently, four Mississippi universities are working with graphene, said Allison Buchanan, CEO of Oxford-based New Media Lab, National Graphene’s parent company founded by Meek.

The University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, Jackson State University and the University of Southern Mississippi are all working with the product, she said.

Meek views that as a promising sign of things to come.

The United Kingdom and the Chinese are doing work in graphene. Meeks believes the U.S has been behind the curve. However, he hopes to change that with the graphene association.

“It’s developing rapidly,” he said. “We have an opportunity to bring together entrepreneurs, investors, researchers and commercial enterprises here in Mississippi. We want to be the catalyst to be the stakeholders in graphene, which is relatively in its infancy.”

Buchanan said she believes graphene will soon be in every product imaginable.

“This material is going to change the lives of people all over the world,” she said.

Zina Jarrahi Cinker, a graphene scientist from Vanderbilt University, will serve as executive director of the association. The creation of the association will provide a collective space for those interested in the industry, she said.

“This is a pivotal time for the commercialization of graphene,” Cinker said. “NGA is creating a platform that brings together current and future graphene stakeholders, drives innovation and facilitates the commercialization of graphene in the U.S. and beyond.”

NGA will host a roundtable event in Nashville in October. Meek said he’s confident the roundtable will be the first of many.

“Graphene seems to be the product that’s going to break out of the pack and have an impact, and we want to be a part of that here in Mississippi,” he said.

Contact Sarah Fowler at 601-961-7303 or sfowler@gannett.com . Follow her on Facebook and Twitter .