Jingmai Kathleen O’Connor
邹晶梅
Current Position
2020 – present
Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles
The Field Museum of Natural History
Chicago, IL
Faculty Positions
2022 – present
2020 – present
Trainer
Committee of Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago
Adjunct Professor
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (CAS)
2018 – 2020
Adjunct Professor
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing)
2015 – 2020
Senior Professor
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (CAS)
2013 – 2015
Associate Professor
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (CAS)
Education & Training
2010 – 2013
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (Beijing)
Chinese Academy of Sciences
On Fellowship for Young International Scientists from Chinese Academy of Sciences
2009
Ph.D.
University of Southern California, Department of Geological Sciences
Advisors Prof. David Bottjer (USC) and Dr. Luis Chiappe (Los Angeles Natural History Museum)
Dissertation title: A Systematic Review of Enantiornithes (Aves: Ornithothoraces)
2004
B.A.
Occidental College
Earth Sciences undergraduate thesis title (under Prof. Donald Prothero and Dr. Xiaoming Wang, LANHM): New specimen of the Miocene mustelid Sthenictis from the Miocene of Inner Mongolia, China
Professional Appointments & Responsibilities
2023 – present
2022 – present
2020 – present
Vice President, Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution
Planetary change and Paleosciences Section Head, All Earth
Research Associate, American Museum of Natural History, New York
2019 – 2022
Editorial Board Member, Frontiers in Earth Science
2016 – 2021
Honorary Reader, The University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
2014 – present
Editorial Board Member, Scientific Reports
2014 -2015
Research Associate, Tomsk University, Russia
2013 – 2020
Adjunct Professor, Lingyi University
2009 – present
Research Associate, Los Angeles Natural History Museum
College & University Work
2008
Teaching Assistant, Crises of a Planet, University of Southern California
2004 – 2005
Teaching Assistant, Crises of a Planet, University of Southern California
2003
Field Assistant, paleomagnetics research, D. Prothero, Occidental College
Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Field Methods, Occidental College
Awards, Honors, Grants and Fellowships
2024
Rock Star Award, Cranbrook Institute of Science
2019
Outstanding achievements in scientific research in 2019, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology
Outstanding achievements in scientific research in 2019, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology
The Charles Schuchert Award, Paleontological Society
Chinese Paleontological Association Award for Top 10 Discoveries of 2018
2015
IVPP Research grant, Archaeopteryx and a better understanding of early avian evolution (No. KN205509)
2014
IVPP Research grant, Ecological evolution of mesozoic birds (No. KN214404)
2013
Award for outstanding paper published in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology for, “A redescription of Chaoyangia beishanensis (Aves) and a comprehensive phylogeny of Mesozoic birds.”
2012 – 2014
National Natural Science Foundation of China research grant, Ontogeny and phylogeny of Mesozoic birds (No. 41102009)
2012
Fellowship for Young International Scientists, Chinese Academy of Sciences
2011
National Geographic Waitt Grant: Hunting for Jurassic Dinosaurs in Western Mongolia
Research Fund for International Young Scientists, from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41050110438)
2010
Fellowship for Young International Scientists, Chinese Academy of Sciences Geographic
2008
East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute participant, National Science Foundation
2007
Explorer’s Club Research Grant
Graduate Professionalism Initiative Grant, University of Southern California
2006
Keck Fellow, University of Southern California
2004
Avery China Adventure Recipient
Keck Fellow, University of Southern California
2003
Richter Undergraduate Research Grant, Occidental College
Teaching Experience
2019
Guest Speaker on “The origin of dinosaurian flight and early avian diversity.” Sino-German Field School, Yizhou Sino-German Paleontological Museum (organized by the Senckenberg Museum, Frankfurt, Germany)
2018 – 2019
Comparative Vertebrate Osteology. University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Under-graduate, Master’s and PhD course. Title: Professor (responsible for lectures on non-dinosaurian archosaurs)
2008
Crises of a Planet. University of Southern California. Under-graduate course. Title: Teaching Assistant
2007
Guest Speaker on “The origin of flight.” Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology. Graduate course (Paleobiology; Instructors: David Hone and Corwin Sullivan)
2004 – 2005
Crises of a Planet. University of Southern California. Under-graduate course. Title: Teaching Assistant
2003
Introduction to Field Methods. Occidental College. Under-graduate course. Spring Semester. Title: Teaching Assistant
Extracurriculars
2021
Science Skills! Paleontology (Science Insider)
2019
Breakthrough: Women in STEM documentary (Science Friday)
2018
CAS SELF documentary (airing 2019)
PBS documentary, When Whales Walked (bird segment, filmed in China), Premiered June 19, 2019
2016
CAS SELF (Science Education Life Future) talk: Fascinating early birds
2008 – 2009
Senator for Department of Geological Sciences, Graduate Student Senate, University of Southern California
Additional Services
Peer reviews
Anales de Paleontologie, Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano, Avian Research, Biology Letters, BMC Biology (2), Communications Biology, Cretaceous Research (11), Current Biology (6), eLife (3), Evolution, Frontiers in Earth Science, Geoconservation Research, Geodiversitas, Historical Biology (5), iScience (2), Journal of Anatomy, Journal of Evolutionary Biology (3), Journal of Morphology (2), Journal of Ornithology, Journal of Paleontology (3), Journal of Systematic Palaeontology (6), Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology (13), Lethaia, National Science Review (2), Nature (3), Nature Communications, Nature Ecology and Evolution (2), Naturwissenschaften, New Mexico Natural History Museum Bulletin (3), Paleobiology, Palaeontology (3), Palaeontological Polonica, PeerJ (4), Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, PLoS ONE (5), Proceedings of the Royal Society B (3), Science (2), Science Advances (4), Scientific Reports (3), Spanish Journal of Palaeontology, Systematic Palaeontology (2), The Anatomical Record, The Innovation (2), Vertebrata Palasiatica (6), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society (2)
Grant reviews
Hong Kong Research Grants Council (5); Medical Research Council, UKRI