Dr. J. Oscar C. Jiménez-Halla was born in Oaxaca City, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. He obtained his B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering (First Class Honours) from the Oaxaca Institute of Technology in 2002, followed by an M.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Guanajuato in 2005. Supported by a doctoral fellowship from the Catalan Government, he pursued his Ph.D. at the Institute of Computational Chemistry and Catalysis (IQCC), University of Girona, under the supervision of Prof. Miquel Solà and Prof. Juvencio Robles. His doctoral research focused on reaction mechanisms and the aromaticity of small inorganic clusters.
During his Ph.D., he completed research stays with Prof. Thomas Cundari (University of North Texas, USA) and Prof. Gernot Frenking (Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany). From 2010 to 2012, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Gabriel Merino (CINVESTAV, Mérida), Prof. Fahmi Himo (Stockholm University, Sweden), and Prof. Holger Braunschweig (Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany), investigating catalytic mechanisms in organic, inorganic, and organometallic systems.
In 2013, Dr. Jiménez-Halla joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Guanajuato as an Associate Professor, where he leads the Private Investigator Agency of Molecules research group. He teaches courses in Thermodynamics, Chemical Kinetics, p-Block Chemistry, and Reaction Mechanisms at both undergraduate and graduate levels (and previously taught General Chemistry and Calculus).
He is a member of Mexico’s National Researcher System (SNI) Level III. He serves as Review Editor for Frontiers in Chemistry and Applied Science and Innovative Research.
Dr. Jiménez-Halla has published over 120 peer-reviewed articles, authored a book on computational chemistry applications, and actively participates in international conferences, outreach lectures in schools, and cultural events. His work has achieved an H-index of 35. His guiding motto is: “How can we help you?”
Beyond science, he enjoys video games (especially Street Fighter, though he jokes he’s becoming outdated at it), cinema, reading and writing fiction, reggae music, and supporting his hometown baseball team, the Guerreros de Oaxaca. He also values meditation, learning new languages, and building lasting friendships.