In 2008, Subramanian received a National Science Foundation grant to explore novel materials for electronics applications. Under this project, he was particularly interested in synthesizing multiferroics based on manganese oxides. He guided Andrew E. Smith, the first graduate student in his lab, to research an oxide solid solution between YInO 3 (a ferroelectric material) and YMnO 3 (an antiferromagnetic material) at 1,093 °C (2,000 °F).