Patrick O'Connor, Ph.D.

奥康纳博士将实验室研究与实地研究威廉希尔亚洲，以解决生物体如何与其环境相匹配以及不断变化的环境最终如何影响地球上的生物多样性。 他的早期工作主要集中在食肉恐龙、鸟类和鳄鱼上，通过研究不同的软组织系统——特别是肺和神经系统——如何影响恐龙骨骼上保存的特征的大小和形状，从而推进了传统的化石解释。 Through O'Connor's work, much more is now known about how dinosaurs looked, moved and functioned.

In 2010, O'Connor led a study published in the journal Nature that described fossils of an ancient, cat-like crocodile that roamed Tanzania 100 million years ago. Having mammal-like teeth, Pakasuchus kapilimai is described as a small animal - about the size of a modern-day cat - that wasn't as heavily armored as other crocodiles, except along the tail. Other aspects of its anatomy suggest it was a land-dwelling creature that likely feasted on insects and other small animals to survive. The molar teeth of the new species possessed shearing edges for processing food, rather than exhibiting typical crocodile-like conical teeth, which are used to tear prey in large pieces.

Dr. O’Connor also conducts field research in various part of the world, including ongoing projects in  Tanzania, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Egypt, and Antarctica. These field projects aim to characterize Mesozoic (~250 to 66 million years ago) land-living animals, particularly Cretaceous-aged dinosaurs, birds, and crocodilians, in an effort to understand relationships between biotic diversity and large-scale environmental (e.g., climate, landform alterations) factors. In recent years Dr. O’Connor has been involved with the discovery and description of the titanosaurian sauropod Rukwatitan bisepultus and the crocodyliforms Pakasuchus kapilimai and Rukwasuchus yajabalijekundu from the Cretaceous of Tanzania, the bizarre gondwanatherian mammal Vintana sertichi from the Maastrichtian of Madagascar, and several other Mesozoic and Cenozoic animals new to science.