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

Email: yihe (at) unm.edu

Xuechen is a biochemist with a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of New Mexico. He has research experience in natural product biosynthesis, protein engineering, and functional genomics, including work on type II polyketide pathways.  He is currently a research scientist at the University of New Mexico, applying modern protein and peptide-engineering approaches to study PICK1, MDM2, and other scaffold protein systems. His goal after his fellowship is to continue doing research in academia or biotech, advancing the discovery and engineering of proteins and peptides.

Honors:
2023 NSF-GRFP Awardee
2023 2nd Place LoboBITES
2023 ACS invited speaker
2025 Hillard L. Smith-Dow Award

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.

2025 NMC/NMAIC scholarship in Artificial Intelligence

Temair is a graduate student with a B.A. in Chemistry. She is interested in using computational methods to explore genomic and protein data. Eventually, she aims to create STEM opportunities for rural and Indigenous youth.

2025 Charles Griffith Graduate Fellowship in Science and Technology

Autumn graduated from the University of New Mexico with a B.A. in Chemistry. She is interested in the applications that computational chemistry can have in simulating and understanding different biological processes. Her goal is to bring that information into earlier stages of education.

Honors:
2025 CMU Computational Neuroscience Scholar

Owen is pursuing a B.S. in Chemical Biology (a new BS program in Chemistry), having graduated from Los Alamos High School in 2023. He is interested in developing an understanding of protein functions and interactions, particularly as they relate to nerve cell function, synaptic plasticity, and neurotransmission. Eventually, he hopes to innovate ways to utilize peptides and proteins for the prevention and treatment of neurological disorders. He is ecstatic to be able to create progress in this field.