About Ernest Opoku

Ernest Opoku was born in Dadease, Ashanti region, Ghana and attended the Dadease Salvation Army Primary School, and the Dadease Local Assembly (L/A) Junior High School until 2007. In 2011, he completed Dadease Agricultural Senior High School.

Ernest earned his B.Sc.(Honors) and M.Phil. Chemistry degrees from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana in 2016 and 2019, respectively under the supervision of Professor Richard Tia. For his master's thesis, he used computational chemistry models to study the reaction mechanisms of several interesting organic, acid-, and transition metal-catalyzed reactions and contributed to several peer reviewed articles. Concurrently, Ernest mentored 39 undergraduate seniors and four international exchange graduate students on their thesis projects, leading to peer-reviewed publications with 11 of the undergraduate mentees.

Ernest began his graduate studies at Auburn University in January 2020 and joined the Professor Vincent Ortiz's quantum chemistry group in May 2020. For his graduate research, he focused on developing and applying new-generation diagonal electron-propagator methods and their non-diagonal extensions for accurate and efficient prediction of electron binding energies (EBEs), excitation energies, and associated transition probabilities and Dyson orbitals. (EBEs is the collective name for ionization energies, electron affinities, and electron detachment energies.) He has applied the new-generation electron-propagator methods to predict the stability and EBEs of double Rydberg anions based on OnH2n+1+,0,− clusters and NH4+,0,−(H2O)n ammonium-water kernels implicated in interstellar chemistry. The EBEs of organic photovoltaic molecules relevant for the optimization of solar energy devices have also been calculated within chemical accuracy (average errors of 0.04 eV). He has also interpreted the photoelectron spectra of the adenosine, guanidine, thymidine, and cytidine nucleotides anions found in DNA. The photoelectron spectra of green fluorescent protein (GFP) model chromophore anions have also been assigned in excellent agreement with experimental measurements. The new-generation electron-propagator methods also demonstrate exceptional performance on open-shell systems, with error margins generally increasing by only ~0.05 eV as a result of spin contamination. Several of the new methods with quintic and sixth power arithmetic scaling requirements approach chemical accuracy when compared with experimental ionization energies. Judicious simplification of ring and ladder renormalizations in electron-propagator calculations of molecular ionization energies has also been executed. 

In 2019, Ernest founded the Nesvard Institute of Molecular Sciences which is an African-focused private nonprofit research and educational institute in Ghana. The Institute's central goal is to create a common space for Pan-Africans trained at home and abroad in the broad areas of molecular sciences to establish sustainable mentorship and collaborations to pursue and advance scientific interests of Africa. Through this initiative, several young African scientists have received mentorship, with many now pursuing Ph.D. degrees in STEM disciplines at leading universities worldwide.

He served as the President (2022-2023) of the Auburn University Chapter of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE).

Ernest’s personal values, principles, work ethic, tolerance, and career interests have been profoundly shaped by his challenging beginnings. He is deeply committed to collaboration, mentorship, and consultation, particularly initiatives that uplift underserved communities and their members. 

• 2025-2028 MIT School of Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• 2025 IBM-Zerner Graduate Award, 64th Sanibel Symposium, Saint Augustine Beach, Florida

• 2025 Full Member, Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society

• 2025 ACS East Alabama West Georgia Local Section Travel Award, American Chemical Society 

• 2025 Distinguished Future Faculty, Preparing Future Faculty Program, Auburn University

• 2024 Chemical Computing Group Excellence Award, COMP Division, American Chemical Society

• 2024-2025 Harry Merriwether Fellowship, Graduate School, Auburn University

• 2024 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Auburn University

• 2024 CAS Future Leader, CAS Division, American Chemical Society

• 2023 Graduate Award in Theoretical Chemistry: Finalist, PHYS Division, American Chemical Society

• 2023 Outstanding Doctoral Student Award, Graduate School, Auburn University

• 2023 Dean’s Research Award, College of Sciences and Mathemetics, Auburn University

• 2023 Dow Chemical Fellowship, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Auburn University

• 2023 The Helping Hands Service Award, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Auburn University

• 2023 Graduate Student Travel Award, College of Sciences and Mathemetics, Auburn University

• 2022-2024 Advancing Science Conference Grant – National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE)

• 2017-2019 KNUST College of Science Postgraduate Research Grant, College of Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)