Jingmai Kathleen O'Connor (; born August 26, 1983) is a

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

who works as a curator at the Field Museum.

Biography

O'Connor is from

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

, California. Her mother is a geologist. O'Connor says that while she was not a

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

enthusiast as a child, being present for her mother's geology fieldwork began her interest in the subject. She explains, "I enjoyed going to the field with her, collecting rocks, minerals, and fossils, and playing in the lab." O'Connor graduated from Occidental College after majoring in

Geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

and studying with

Donald Prothero Donald Ross Prothero (February 21, 1954) is an American geologist, paleontologist, and author who specializes in mammalian paleontology and magnetostratigraphy, a technique to date rock layers of the Cenozoic era and its use to date the climate ...

. While a student, she volunteered in the paleontology department of the

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is the largest natural and historical museum in the western United States. Its collections include nearly 35 million specimens and artifacts and cover 4.5 billion years of history. This large col ...

, working with Xiaoming Wang. She received a Ph.D. from the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

in 2009, studying ancient birds with Luis M. Chiappe and Dr. David Bottjer.

Paleontology

After obtaining her Ph.D., O'Connor moved to

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

where she worked as a postdoc at the

Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology The Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP; ) of China is a research institution and collections repository for fossils, including many dinosaur and pterosaur specimens (many from the Yixian Formation). As its name sugges ...

. Working with

Zhou Zhonghe Zhou Zhonghe (; born 19 January 1965 in Jiangdu, Jiangsu province) is a Chinese palaeontologist. He described the ancient bird ''Confuciusornis''.. Zhou graduated from Nanjing University and earned a Ph.D. in Biology in 1999 from the University o ...

, she advanced to a full professorship while continuing her ancient bird research. Professor O'Connor is half Chinese and says that she is "very, very proud and fascinated by my Chinese culture" and found moving to China to pursue paleontology very rewarding. In 2011, O'Connor named a species of '' Qiliania'', a

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

-era bird that she discovered with a team, the ''Qiliania graffini'' after

Greg Graffin Gregory Walter Graffin (born November 6, 1964) is an American singer and evolutionary biologist. He is most recognized as the lead vocalist and only constant member of punk rock band Bad Religion, which he co-founded in 1980. He embarked on a s ...

. Graffin is most well-known as the singer of the punk band Bad Religion and is also a professor of

Evolutionary biology Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes ( natural selection, common descent, speciation) that produced the diversity of life on Earth. It is also defined as the study of the history of life ...

. During her time with the Institute, O'Connor was part of a team that made discoveries of extraordinary Enantiornithes remains preserved in

Burmese amber Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The ...

. These deposits dated to 99 million years ago and the remains are among the most well-preserved of any

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...

dinosaur. The team found fully feathered wings, feet, and even entire hatchlings. With the team, and also as first author, Prof. O'Connor has published findings showing that enantiornithines had fully modern feathers, clarified the feather arrangements and musculature of several species. O'Connor was given the

Charles Schuchert Award The Charles Schuchert Award is presented by the Paleontological Society to a person under 40 whose work reflects excellence and promise in the science of paleontology. The award was made in honor of Charles Schuchert (1858 – 1942), an American ...

by the

Paleontological Society The Paleontological Society, formerly the Paleontological Society of America, is an international organisation devoted to the promotion of paleontology. The Society was founded in 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland, and was incorporated in April 1968 in ...

. The award is given annually to a person under 40 whose work reflects excellence and promise in the science of paleontology. In 2020, O'Connor returned to the United States, becoming the Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles at the Field Museum in Chicago. She continues to publish, and in 2021 co-authored a paper on the discovery of

quartz crystal Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

s in the stomach of an enantiornithe. She is also doing research within the Field's collection, studying the mysterious holes in the jaw of Sue the Tyrannosaurus rex.

Biography

Paleontology

Further reading