Susanna M. Thon

Susanna M. Thon is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and a Marshal Salant Faculty Scholar. She serves as Associate Director of the Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute (ROSEI) and is affiliated with the Data Science and AI Institute.

• Education: B.Sc. in Physics (MIT, 2005), M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Physics (UC Santa Barbara, 2008, 2010)
• Postdoctoral Fellow (University of Toronto)

Her research focuses on nanostructured materials and devices for renewable energy and optoelectronics, particularly solar energy conversion and sensing. Key projects include plasmonic-photocatalytic systems using aluminum nanoparticles, colloidal quantum dots for multicolored/transparent solar cells, and machine learning-driven solar cell optimization.

• Funding: National Science Foundation, American Chemical Society, Maryland Energy Innovation Institute, U.S. Army, Cohen Translational Engineering Fund
• Professional Memberships: American Chemical Society, American Physical Society, IEEE, Optica, Materials Research Society, Association for Women in Science

Her team has published over 50 peer-reviewed papers and actively mentors students like Kyle, Jill, Sreyas, Ekin, Ariel, Delancy, Joseph, Sasha, and Kevin, who have presented at Design Day and published in journals like Coordination Chemistry Reviews and Optics Express.

Scientific awards include the Johns Hopkins Catalyst Award, Discovery Award, and WSE Excellence in Mentoring Award.