Dr. Thamraa AlShahrani

Dr. Thamraa AlShahrani was promoted to Associate Professor in the Physics Department at Princess Norah University (PNU) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in September 2021. She was also appointed Director of the Advisory Support Project to activate research, scientific publishing and international visibility at the university for 2021-2022. Additionally, Dr. AlShahrani served as the Vice Dean of graduate studies for academic programs and development at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University until March 2024.

Dr. AlShahrani is a solar energy specialist focusing to improve the solar cell’s efficiency and stability. As a scientist, she is also applying project management and leadership strategies to her projects to gain both solutions and best practices. She did her postdoctoral research in the Photovoltaics Research Laboratory (PV Lab) at Massachusetts institute of Technology (MIT) in 2017-2018. There she conducted research with the MIT PV lab group in topics relating to her country (Perovskite Si Tandem Solar Cells for Hot/Arid Climates). The results were presented in the Materials Research Society (MRS) 2018 Spring meeting in Arizona.

You can read more about Dr. AlShahrani's work at MIT in the MIT News article, "Meet the women shaping science and engineering in Saudi Arabia."

Dr. AlShahrani was a Visiting Researcher in the Civil Structure and Environmental Engineering Department at Trinity College of Dublin in Summer 2019. She earned her Ph.D. in 2016 from Bangor University, United Kingdom where she researched organic solar cells. Her 2010 Master’s degree was earned in nanotechnology and microfabrication. Her research interest areas include, but are not limited to, photovoltaics, LED, transistors, energy storage, hydrogen fuel cells, semiconductor materials and nanomaterials. She has published several articles in peer reviewed journals relating to solar energy applications. Also, Dr. Shahrani has participated in several conferences and committees involving solar energy.

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