Jingmai O’Connor
Senior professor at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Jingmai O’Connor is a Chinese-Irish American paleontologist whose research focuses primarily on the origin and early evolution of Aves during the Mesozoic. O’Connor first became interested in Geology through her mother, a geochemist, who did her PhD during O’Connor’s childhood, often taking her kids along on field work. Her first course with Dr. Donald Prothero at Occidental College, where she attended for undergraduate studies, ignited a strong passion for Paleontology. *Click on the name to know more about her work on ResearchGate |
She began her research as an undergraduate studying Cenozoic mammals with Dr. Xiaoming Wang at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. O'Connor received her PhD from the University of Southern California where she studied Mesozoic birds with Dr. Luis Chiappe (Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County). Currently and for the past nine years she has been working under Dr. Zhonghe Zhou at the IVPP of the CAS in Beijing, where she is a senior professor. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Lingyi University, a research associate at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, honorary reader at the University of the Witwatersrand, and an editorial board member at Scientific Reports. Dr O’Connor’s research is not limited to any one aspect of early avian evolution, touching on feathers, aerodynamics, reproduction, ecology, anatomy, systematics, ontogeny, taxonomy, histology, and other topics as exceptional specimens arise. The results of some of her research have been published in top science journals including Nature, and she regularly attends domestic and international conferences. O’Connor has helped to train several Master’s and PhD students, and participates in outreach activities whenever opportunities arise. She collaborates with scientists worldwide and has conducted field work in six countries as one of the world’s leading experts on Mesozoic birds. |