/ Chemistry Department

RMC 2026 Program

Program for the 40th Reaction Mechanisms Conference to be held at Hope College, Holland, Michigan, on June 7–10, 2026.

Schedule

All sessions and breaks are in the Haworth Ballroom (rooms 134/136/140) unless indicated otherwise. A PDF program book will be available for download here shortly before meeting. A full PDF abstract book will only be sent to registered participants.

Sunday, June 7

  Event/Session Details/Speakers
3–5 p.m. Registration, Check-In, and Welcome Reception (Haworth Prefunction Area)
5:15–5:30 p.m. Opening Remarks Jason Gillmore
5:30–7:30 p.m. Expanding Catalysis in Organic Chemistry
Session chair: Judy Wu
  • Valery Fokin – University of Southern California
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Joseph Moran – University of Ottawa
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Reginald Mills – University of Houston
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Raul Hernandez – Rice University
    (title of talk forthcoming)
7:30–9:30 p.m. Poster session with light reception (2 hrs)

Monday, June 8

  Event/Session Details/Speakers
7:45–8:30 a.m. Complimentary light breakfast
8:30–10:30 a.m. Mechanistic Research in Industry
Session chair: Tom Peterson
  • John Fetzer – Chevron
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Stephanie Valenzuela – Dow
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Shashank Shekhar – AbbVie
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Yunlong Zhang – Aramco
    (title of talk forthcoming)
10:30–11 a.m. Coffee Break (30 mins)
11 a.m.–12 p.m. Industry Careers panel, sponsored by AbbVie Panel Chair: Jeff Kallemeyn
12–5:30 p.m. Free afternoon for Tourism and Networking – lunch and dinner on your own
5:30–7:30 p.m. Synthetic Methods and Chemical Reactivity
Session chair: Julie Peterson
  • Robert Mayer – Technical University of Munich
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Artur Mardyukov – Justus-Liebig University Giessen
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Melanie Chiu – Michigan State University
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Steven Lopez – Northeastern University
    (title of talk forthcoming)
7:30–9:30 p.m. Poster session with light reception (2 hrs)

Tuesday, June 9

  Event/Session Details/Speakers
7:45–8:30 a.m. Complimentary light breakfast
8:30–10:30 a.m. Mechanistic Research in Undergraduate Institutions
  • Amanda Turek – Williams College
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Dasan Thamattoor – Colby College
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Daniela Arias-Rotondo – Kalamazoo College
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Andrew Petit – California State U, Fullerton
    (title of talk forthcoming)
10:30–11 a.m. Coffee Break (30 mins)
11 a.m.–12 p.m. PUI Careers panel, sponsored by Hope College Panel Chair: Jason Gillmore
12–1:30 p.m. Undergrad Context Lunch (Haworth Room 156/158) Discussion Chair: Ron Brisbois
Lunch Break (1 hr 30 mins) – lunch not provided
1:30–3 p.m. Predicting Reactivity: Computations and Data-Driven Models
  • Anat Milo – Ben-Gurion University
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Peng Liu – University of Pittsburg
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Alistair Sterling – University of Texas, Dallas
    (title of talk forthcoming)
3–3:30 p.m. Coffee Break (30 mins)
3:30–6 p.m. Tribute to Professor Peter Chen
Session chair: Peter Schreiner
  • Introduction
  • Chris Slootweg – University of Amsterdam
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Renana Poranne – Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Marc-Etienne Moret – Utrecht University
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • RMC Honoree: Peter Chen – ETH-Zurich
    (title of talk forthcoming)
6–7 p.m. Reception (open to all)
7–9 p.m. Conference Banquet (tickets required)
Haworth Dining Room (room 104)

Wednesday, June 10

7:45–8:30 a.m. Complimentary light breakfast
8:30–10:30 a.m. Functional Organic π-Systems
Session chair: Jeremy Bard
  • Vladimir Popik – University of Georgia
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Arthur Winter – Iowa State University
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Malika Jeffries – Boston University
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Benjamin King – University of Nevada, Reno
    (title of talk forthcoming)
10:30–11 a.m. Coffee Break (30 mins)
11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Spectroscopic Windows into Molecular Mechanisms
Session chair: Nathanael Kazmierczak
  • Cláudio Nunes – University of Coimbra
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Ruth Gschwind – University of Regensburg
    (title of talk forthcoming)
  • Carlos Crespo-Hernandez – Case Western Reserve University
    (title of talk forthcoming)
12:30–12:45 p.m. Closing remarks and instructions, Conference Survey

Abstracts

Abstracts for posters and invited talks can be submitted through noon Eastern Daylight Time on Friday, May 15, 2026. Posters must be no bigger than 47.5" x 47.5" (120 x 120 cm). Tacks will be provided. Templates for abstract submission are provided, along with the abstract submission form, here. A print program will be available on site, with a PDF of abstracts sent directly to participants before the meeting and available via a QR code at the meeting, but not posted publicly.

Posters

Formal poster sessions will be held on Sunday and Monday evenings. But posters should be posted at check-in on Sunday and not removed until Tuesday night or Wednesday morning so that they are available for informal browsing and discussion throughout the meeting.

Posters must be no bigger than 47.5" x 47.5" (120 x 120 cm). Tacks will be provided. 

A list of posters by title and presenter(s) will be posted here along with poster # assignments shortly before the meeting.

Contact

Direct inquiries to RMC 2026 co-organizer and local host Professor Jason Gillmore at gillmore@hope.edu.