PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A Brown University graduate student will be honored by the Chinese government with its Outstanding Students Abroad Award.

Yuanyuan ‘Alvin’ Zhou, a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Engineering, is one of 500 outstanding Chinese students studying overseas in 32 countries in all disciplines to receive the award, which is administered by the Chinese Scholarship Council.

“Alvin is an amazing, creative student who has over 25 journal papers to his credit already,” said Nitin Padture, professor of engineering, director of Brown’s Institute for Molecular and Nanoscale Innovation and Zhou’s Ph.D. advisor. “Alvin has made groundbreaking contributions in the field of energy-related materials, and he has a very promising career ahead of him.”

Zhou’s recent work has focused on perovskites, a class of materials with potential for use in versatile, low-cost solar cells. Zhou and Padture have been working to improve the efficiency of perovskite cells, and to scale up their fabrication for commercial applications.

Zhou will receive the award, and a $6,000 cash prize, at a ceremony at the Chinese consulate in New York City this spring.