Stephen passed!

Stephen has passed his candidacy (formerly: qualifying) exam! Congratulations!!!

Jun 15, 2026

I'm so proud of my newly minted PhD candidate, Stephen Awuku. He not only passed the candidacy exam but did so with aplomb (and style)! The committee was super impressed with his answers to their questions, from basic photophysics to aromaticity and back again!

You're awesome, Stephen, and we're going continue to explore the photophysics of molecules together! For more information about Stephen's project, please see our group members page.

Here's another photo from the 2026 CSC. Mark Wilson (UofT) is standing with Stephen, Wenlong, and Marc MacKinnon (URegina) in front of Stephen's poster on pyrene-derivative thin films.