Current Position:

• Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, College of Art and Science
• Adjunct Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Health Sciences Center
• Associate Director, Center for Computational Chemistry (C³)
• UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center (UNMCCC) full member

Degrees:

• Ph.D. in Biophysics, 2009, Huazhong University of Science and Technology
• Postdoctoral Associate in Chemistry, 2009-2012, Cornell University (PI: Prof. Harold A. Scheraga)
• Research Associate  in Chemistry, 2012-2017, Cornell University (PI: Prof. Harold A. Scheraga)
• Research Scientist in Bioengineering, 2017-2018, University of California Merced (PI. Prof. Victor Muñoz)

Honors and Grants(after joining UNM):

• 2024 Cancer Center Collaboration Award Between Sanford Burnham Prebys Cancer Center & UNMCCC
• SUPN, 2024-2027
• NSF CAREER Award, 2023-2028
• SUPN Collaboration-Building Seed Funding, 2023-2024
• INBRE RAIN Award, 2023-2024
• NSF PREC Track 1, 2022-2025 (PI: Mark Walker - Experiments; Co-PI: Yi He - Computations)
• The Autophagy, Inflammation, and Metabolism Center Core Capability Enhancement Award, 2022
• NSF LEAPS Award, 2021-2023
• The 2021 Summer Research for Faculty (SuRF) Award, 2021 & 2022 (Twice)
• Research Allocations Committee (RAC) Award, 2020-2022
• The Substance Use Disorders Grand Challenge Pilot Research Award, 2019-2023 (renewed twice)

Email: yihe (at) unm.edu

Honors:
2023 NSF-GRFP Awardee
2023 2nd Place LoboBITES
2023 ACS invited speaker

Emily is a graduate with a B.S. degree in Chemistry from Rollins College. She gained research experience that focused on the DEA of NO₂ and NO₂^-. She is currently interested in engineering proteins as biosensors to capture chemical compounds. Her goal after graduate school is to continue doing research for the pharmaceutical industry.

Xinyu earned his Master's degree in Biomedical Engineering from Wuhan University of Technology. His graduate studies primarily centered on drug design, utilizing molecular dynamics simulations. As he progresses through his PhD research, he aspires to gain a deeper understanding and enhance his skills in computational chemistry and structural biology.

Di is a graduate student with an M.S. degree in Chemistry and Physics of Polymers from Southwest University. She feels interested in exploring more subtle mechanisms of interaction between biological molecules and other compounds via computational strategy. She wants to experience the joy of research.

Jesse graduated with a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Central Arkansas. He is interested in the application's of computational chemistry towards protein design in effect to environmental and biomedical processes. His goal is to research environmental remediation methods on tribal lands.

Zhaoyuan graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Sciences from Shandong University. He has previously worked as a research assistant at Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR in Singapore for seven months. He aims to master computational methods while continuing to excel in wet lab experiments, striving for a balanced advancement in both areas in his future research.

Karen received her high school diploma from Volcano Vista High School in 2021. She is pursuing a B.A. Chemistry, a minor in Management and second minor in Family Child Studies, she is expected to graduate during the Summer 2024 semester. Karen joined Dr. He’s group in order to expand her research experience, learn computational chemistry concepts and explore project management/administration skills. She hopes to pursue a master's in business administration and have a career in scientific project management or healthcare administration. Outside of academics, she enjoys snowboarding, traveling and trying new restaurants.