The Houk Research Conference (HRC) is a dedicated annual gathering of the "Houk Family" or "Houkies"—a global network of alumni, collaborators, and colleagues connected by the mentorship and scientific legacy of Professor Kendall N. Houk.

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Origins & Mission

The conference was established by former graduate students and postdoctoral scholars of the Houk group. Its primary mission is to honor the career, tradition, and scientific impact of Professor Houk, while providing a forum for the next generation of computational and experimental organic chemists to showcase their work. 

The HRC is more than a standard academic symposium; it serves as a reunion for the "Houkies" to reconnect, foster new collaborations, and celebrate the shared methodology of using computational tools to solve fundamental problems in organic chemistry.

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About Professor Houk

For over half a century, Professor Ken Houk has pioneered the field of computational organic chemistry, whose research has fundamentally reshaped our understanding of organic reactivity. Houk has authored over 1,400 scientific publications, a prolific body of work dedicated to elucidating rules to understand reactivity in complex organic reactions. His research interests span many areas of organic chemisry, including the mechanisms and dynamics of pericyclic reactions, the quantitative modeling of asymmetric reactions used in synthesis, the dynamics and properties of supramolecular nanomachines, and mechanisms and design of enzyme-catalyzed reactions. 

Houk’s transformative impact on physical organic chemistry has been recognized with the field's highest honors, including the ACS Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (1988), the James Flack Norris Award (1991), the Schrödinger Medal (1998), and the prestigious Arthur C. Cope Award (2009). His scientific standing was further cemented by his election to the National Academy of Sciences in 2010, his induction as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2012, and election as a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2021.

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Past Conferences

The Inaugural HRC (2022) – UCLA

• Location: University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

• Dates: August 11–12, 2022

• Highlights: Originally planned for August 2020 to mark a major milestone in Prof. Houk's career, the inaugural event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was successfully held in the summer of 2022 at the Carnesale Commons on the UCLA campus. The event was organized by alumni co-chairs Steven Lopez and Matthew Grayson, featuring a program designed to bridge the gap between industrial, academic, and government researchers.

• UCLA News Archive: Houk Research Conference 2022

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The 80th Birthday Symposium (2023) – ACS San Francisco

• Location: ACS Fall National Meeting, San Francisco, CA

• Date: August 14, 2023

• Highlights: In lieu of a standalone conference, the Houk community gathered for a special symposium titled "Pushing Back the Frontiers of Computational Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology." Organized by Profs. Robert Paton, Seonah Kim, and Zhongyue Yang, this event celebrated Prof. Houk’s 80th birthday, featuring talks from alumni in both academia and industry who are applying computational tools to enzyme design and organic chemistry.

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The 3rd HRC (2024) – Zhejiang University

• Location: Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

• Date: August 10–11, 2024

• Highlights: In August 2024, Houk alumni gathered in the beautiful city of Hangzhou for a two-day symposium named: "International Symposium on Chemical Frontiers: Computation, Experiment and Data". Profs. Xin Hong (Zhejiang University) and Zhongyue (John) Yang (Vanderbilt University) co-organized the 2024 HRC.

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The 4th HRC (2025) – TU Dresden

• Location: Technische Universität Dresden, Germany

• Dates: June 29 – July 1, 2025

• Highlights: The conference expanded its international reach by moving to Europe for the first time. Hosted by Prof. Thomas Strassner, the Chair of Physical Organic Chemistry at TU Dresden, the theme "Pushing Back the Frontiers of Science: Combining Computation and Experiment" highlighted the increasing synergy between theoretical predictions and experimental validation. 

• Website: HRC 2025 Dresden

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The 2026 Conference – University of Pittsburgh

For 2026, the HRC travels to the University of Pittsburgh, a location of deep historical significance for the group. From 1980 to 1986, Prof. Houk served as a Professor at Pitt, where his group produced foundational work in pericyclic reactions and stereoselectivity. Bringing the conference to Pittsburgh serves as a "homecoming," celebrating the pivotal years that helped shape the trajectory of modern computational organic chemistry.

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