West Coast Theoretical Chemistry Meeting 2025

The University of Nevada, Reno hosted the fifth annual West Coast Theoretical Chemistry (WCTC) Meeting on Saturday, May 10, 2025. The WCTC meeting brought together graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty and industry scientists for a one-day meeting to discuss and present their research across all areas of theoretical chemistry in the form of invited talks, contributed talks and poster presentations. 

What is the WCTC Meeting?

Chemistry at the University of Nevada, RenoThe West Coast Theoretical Chemistry (WCTC) Meeting brought together graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty and industry scientists for a one-day meeting to discuss and present their research across all areas of theoretical chemistry in the form of invited talks, contributed talks and poster presentations. 

This one-day meeting took place on Saturday, May 10, 2025 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Request a copy of the WCTC schedule and book of abstracts

For more information, please email Sergey Varganov or Jill Lorenz.

Venue

The WCTC meeting took place at the Davidson Mathematics and Science Center on the University of Nevada, Reno campus (1664 N. Virginia St., Reno, NV 89557).

The Reno Tahoe International Airport (RNO) is approximately 5 miles from the University of Nevada, Reno. Campus is approximately 0.3 miles from Downtown Reno. A map of the conference venue and recommended parking areas can be found on the University's interactive online map. Campus parking is free on weekends, except for 24/7 reserved spots.

The University of Nevada, Reno is approximately 60 miles from Lake Tahoe. 

Registration, lodging and cost

Invited speakers

  • Anastassia Alexandrova, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Tim Zuehlsdorff, Oregon State University
  • Matthias Heyden, Arizona State University
  • Anne McCoy, University of Washington
  • Oleg Prezhdo, University of Southern California 
  • Robert Parrish, QC Ware

Request a copy of the WCTC schedule and book of abstracts

Poster winners

First Place

Jackson Elowitt, University of Utah
Electron density transport during chemical reactions

Second Place

Marco Hernandez, California State University, Fullerton
Excited state anti-aromaticity relief as a quantitative descriptor of photobasicity

Third Place

Sourav Majumdar, University of California, Irvine
Mechanism of the non-Kasha fluorescence in pyrene

Organizers

The following individuals from the University of Nevada, Reno are the meeting organizers:

  • Sergey Varganov, University of Nevada, Reno
  • David Leitner, University of Nevada, Reno
  • Timur Tscherbul, University of Nevada, Reno
  • David Cantu, University of Nevada, Reno
  • Samuel Odoh, University of Nevada, Reno
  • Maksym Fizer, University of Nevada, Reno

Previous hosts

The following universities are previous hosts of the West Coast Theoretical Chemistry Meeting: