Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles

Field Museum of Natural History

Chicago, Illinois

Trainer

Committee of Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago

Adjunct Professor

Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (CAS)

Adjunct Professor

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing)

Senior Professor

Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (CAS)

Associate Professor

Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (CAS)

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

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)

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

Ornithology editor, Palaeoworld

Ornithology editor, Comptes Rendus Palevol

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

Editorial Board Member, Frontiers in Earth Science

Honorary Reader, The University of Witwatersrand, South Africa

Editorial Board Member, Scientific Reports

Research Associate, Tomsk University, Russia

Adjunct Professor, Lingyi University

Research Associate, Los Angeles Natural History Museum

Rock Star Award, Cranbrook Institute of Science

Negaunee Seed Fund ($35,000 USD)

Negaunee Innovation Award ($55,000 USD)

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

IVPP Research grant, Archaeopteryx and a better understanding of early avian evolution (No. KN205509)

IVPP Research grant, Ecological evolution of Mesozoic birds (No. KN214404)

Award for outstanding paper published in the Journal of Systematic Paleontology for, "A redescription of Chaoyangia beishanensis (Aves) and a comprehensive phylogeny of Mesozoic birds."

National Natural Science Foundation of China research grant, Ontogeny and phylogeny of Mesozoic birds (No. 41102009)

Fellowship for Young International Scientists, Chinese Academy of Sciences

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)

Fellowship for Young International Scientists, Chinese Academy of Sciences

East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute participant, National Science Foundation

Explorer’s Club Research Grant

Graduate Professionalism Initiative Grant, University of Southern California

Keck Fellow, University of Southern California

Avery China Adventure Recipient

Keck Fellow, University of Southern California

Richter Undergraduate Research Grant, Occidental College

Guest lecturer: Life during the age of dinosaurs (UC Berkeley)

Guest lecturer: Origins and Extinctions: Rocks and Life in Deep Time (Macalaster College); Life during the age of dinosaurs (UC Berkeley); Dinosaur Evolution and Extinction (Columbia College Chicago)

Guest lecturer: Life during the age of dinosaurs (UC Berkeley); Dinosaur Evolution and Extinction (Columbia College Chicago)

Guest lecturer: Dinosaur Evolution and Extinction (Columbia College Chicago)

Guest lecturer 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)

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)

Teaching Assistant: Crises of a Planet (under-graduate course), University of Southern California

Guest lecturer on "The origin of flight." Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology. Graduate course (Paleobiology; Instructors: David Hone and Corwin Sullivan)

Teaching Assistant: Crises of a Planet (under-graduate course), University of Southern California

Teaching Assistant: Introduction to Field Methods (under-graduate course), Occidental College

Isaiah McKinney, University of Chicago

Alexander Clark, University of Chicago, Ph.D. thesis title pending.

Wu Qian, IVPP. Co-supervised with Li Zhiheng. Ph.D. thesis title: The morphology, histology and evolution of the avian pectoral girdle and its function during flight.

Liu Shumin, IVPP. Co-supervised with Li Zhiheng. Master’s thesis title: Investigating possible gastroliths in a referred specimen of Bohaiornis guoi (Aves: Enantiornithes)

Luis Vega-Jorquera, Universidad de Chile. Co-supervised with Alexander Vargas. M.Sc. thesis title pending

Hu Han, IVPP. Co-supervised with Zhou Zhonghe. Ph.D. thesis title: Skull and other character evolution of Early Cretaceous birds of China

Wang Wei, IVPP, M.Sc. Official supervisor: Zhou Zhonghe

Wang Min, IVPP, Ph.D. Official supervisor: Zhou Zhonghe

Zhao Tao, IVPP, M.Sc. Official supervisor: Zhou Zhonghe

Wang Yaming, IVPP, Ph.D. Official supervisor: You Hailu

Zhou Shuang, IVPP, Ph.D. Official supervisor: Zhou Zhonghe

Li Dongsheng, IVPP, M.Sc. Official supervisor: Zhou Zhonghe

Pei-Chen Kuo, Field Museum – Avian palatal evolution

Yosef Kiat, Field Museum – Evolution of feathers

Matteo Fabbri, Field Museum – Evo-devo of the avian form

Alida Bailleul, IVPP – Soft tissues in Cretaceous birds

Spencer Saines (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign) – Green River birds

Sahaara Clark (University of California, Santa Barbara) - Brodavidae

Caleb Bohus (Southern Illinois University) – Southern Illinois early tetrapods

Eduardo Cruz-Vega (University of Puerto Rico) – Hell Creek neornithine

Jessica Zarosl – Hell Creek neornithine

Christian Cooper – Histology of Baptornis

Ryan Davila – Forelimb biomechanics of T. rex

Aaron Steele – Hell Creek microvertebrates

Joseph Maltese (Roosevelt University)

Clifton Chaplin and Morgan Brown (Roosevelt University)

Delaney Drummond (Columbia College); Victoria Burchfield (Columbia College); GE Creech (Columbia College); Aidan Torres (Columbia College)

Kiana Mohammadian (Colombia University; Field Museum Women in Science Summer Internship program); Nick Guegel (University of Maryland; remote)

Idriss Pelletan (University of Poitiers, France; remote)

Gansu Province, China, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology expedition quarrying for Early Cretaceous birds in the Xiagou Formation

Montana, USA – microsite excavation and sediment processing, prospecting Hell Creek Formation (expedition leader)

Montana, USA – microsite excavation and sediment processing, Hell Creek Formation (expedition leader)

Wyoming, USA – quarrying limestones of the Fossil Lake member, Green River Fm, Stones & Bones class (University of Chicago)

Montana, USA – The O’Connor lab have been working a new productive microsite in the Hell Creek, looking for birds and traces of other small and rare organisms

Montana, USA – microsite sediment processing, Hell Creek Formation (expedition leader)

Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada – joint expedition with the University of Alberta, centennial celebration of Elmer Riggs 1922 fieldwork

Utah, University of Minnesota – Field Museum joint expedition prospecting and quarrying in the Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation

Romania, American Museum of Natural History expedition prospecting and quarrying in Cretaceous deposits in the Hateg Basin and near Sebes

Romania, American Museum of Natural History expedition prospecting and quarrying in Cretaceous deposits in the Hateg Basin and near Sebes

Free State, South Africa, University of Witswatersrand expedition prospecting and quarrying in Jurassic deposits collecting dinosaurs and mammals

Alberta, Canada, Phil J. Currie Dinosaur Museum and University of Alberta expedition prospecting in Cretaceous deposits in the Grand Prairie region

Gansu Province, China, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology expedition quarrying for Early Cretaceous birds in the Xiagou Formation

Mongolia, American Museum of Natural History expedition prospecting for Cretaceous dinosaurs and lizards and Paleogene mammals

Xinjiang, China, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology expedition prospecting for dinosaurs in the Jurassic Shishugou Formation in the Junggar Basin

Utah, USA, The University of Southern California-Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History Southern Utah Dinosaur Expedition prospecting in the Kaiparowits Formation in Grand Staircase-Escalante (expedition leader)

Montana, USA, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History expedition prospecting and quarrying in the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation

Qinghai, Gansus, Xingjiang, China, Prospecting for mammals in Neogene deposits identified by oil geologists in the 1950’s

Montana, USA, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History expedition prospecting and quarrying in the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation

Inner Mongolia, China, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology expedition to prospect and screen-wash for mammals in Neogene deposits

Palaeontological Association

Paleontological Society

Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

Museum of the Rockies, Montana State University, Clemson University

University of California, San Diego, Burke Museum, University of Washington, Carter County Museum DinoShindig

Fortnightly, University of Reading, Cranbrook Women Rock Science Speaker Series, Carter County Museum DinoShindig, Polish Academy of Sciences, Benedictine University, Columbia College Chicago, University of Alberta

Milwaukee Public Museum, Burpee Museum Paleofest, Virginia Tech, Montana State University, UC Berkeley, Carter County Museum DinoShindig, University of Illinois Chicago, Misericordia Fossil Freestyle, ESCONI

Illinois Natural History Survey, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, South Coast Geological Society, Montana State University, Dead Lizard Society, University of Chicago EvMorph, Glencoe Public Library, University of Chicago Geophysical Sciences Department

SoCal Paleontology Society, Paleontological Society, Philip J. Currie Museum

Field Museum, International Meeting of Early-Stage Researchers in Paleontology

Palaeontological Association

CAS SELF (Science Education Life Future) talk: Fascinating early birds

Presumpscot Elementary Interview a Scientist; Drummond Elementary

Presumpscot Elementary Interview a Scientist; USC Dornsife Earth Sciences Month Q&A; Dinopalooza; Member’s Night; Archaeopteryx public lecture; Arc’teryx community lecture; Holy Redeemer Elementary visit; Field Ambassadors

Dino Day with a Paleontologist, Chicago Public Library; Rye Country Day School virtual classroom visit; Junior Achievement of Chicago; John C. Haines Elementary School Career Day; Presumpscot Elementary Interview a Scientist; Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (4 panels); FMNH Dinofest; Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs – Young Scientist Program; Chicago Council on Science and Technology, “Ask a Scientist!” FMNH Evolve

WeDigBio; Milwaukee Public Museum School Program; FMNH ‘Meet a Scientist’ Grainger Science Hub; National Academy of Sciences LabX Wrong Answers Only; USC Dornslife Dialogues; Chicago Council on Science and Technology panel at Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo; Women’s Board Science Salon; Schaumburg Public Library “Office hours”; FMNH EVOLVE; FMNH Women’s Board Gala; Make a Wish Foundation

SUE Science Saturday; Collection’s Club; Mason Elementary Career Day; FMNH Founder’s Council; FMNH Dinosaur Day; William & Mary “Introduction to Dinosaurs class”

WeDigBio; Collection’s Club; FMNH Member’s Night; Pomona College “Dinosaur History class”; FMNH Instagram Live; FMNH Facebook Live “Meet a Scientist”; National Geographic Facebook Live: Reimagining Dinosaurs

Canadian International School (Beijing)

Local elementary and high schools (Los Angeles)

Field Museum: Pokémon Museum

Field Museum: After the Impact

Field Museum: Chicago Archaeopteryx (lead scientific advisor; permanent)

Field Museum: Chicago Archaeopteryx (lead scientific advisor; temporary)

Field Museum: The Changing Face of Science (lead scientific advisor)

The appearance and loss of flight in paravians, 6th International Palaeontological Congress

Early avian evolution, Frontiers in Earth Science