O'Connor is from Pasadena, California.[3] Her mother is a geologist.[4] O'Connor says that while she was not a dinosaur enthusiast as a child, being present for her mother's geology fieldwork began her interest in the subject.[4] She explains, "I enjoyed going to the field with her, collecting rocks, minerals, and fossils, and playing in the lab."[5]
After obtaining her Ph.D., O'Connor moved to Beijing where she worked as a postdoc at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.[2] Working with Zhou Zhonghe, she advanced to a full professorship while continuing her ancient bird research.[2] 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.[4]
During her time with the Institute, O'Connor was part of a team that made discoveries of extraordinary Enantiornithes remains preserved in Burmese amber. These deposits dated to 99 million years ago and the remains are among the most well-preserved of any Mesozoic dinosaur. The team found fully feathered wings, feet, and even entire hatchlings.[7][8][9] 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.[7][10]
O'Connor was given the Charles Schuchert Award by the Paleontological Society. The award is given annually to a person under 40 whose work reflects excellence and promise in the science of paleontology.[11]
In 2020, O'Connor returned to the United States, becoming the Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles at the Field Museum in Chicago.[2] She continues to publish, and in 2021 co-authored a paper on the discovery of quartz crystals in the stomach of an enantiornithine Bohaiornis.[5] She is also doing research within the Field's collection, studying the mysterious holes in the jaw of Sue the Tyrannosaurus rex.[12] She also assisted with the museum's acquisition of the thirteenth known Archaeopteryx specimen, which was announced in 2024, and will conduct further research with it.[13][14]
Below is a list of taxa that O'Connor has contributed to naming:
^Xing, Lida; O'Connor, Jingmai K.; McKellar, Ryan C.; Chiappe, Luis M.; Tseng, Kuowei; Li, Gang; Bai, Ming (September 2017). "A mid-Cretaceous enantiornithine (Aves) hatchling preserved in Burmese amber with unusual plumage". Gondwana Research. 49: 264–277. Bibcode:2017GondR..49..264X. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2017.06.001.
^O’Connor, Jingmai K.; Li, Da-Qing; Lamanna, Matthew C.; Wang, Min; Harris, Jerald D.; Atterholt, Jessie; You, Hai-Lu (30 December 2015). "A new Early Cretaceous enantiornithine (Aves, Ornithothoraces) from northwestern China with elaborate tail ornamentation". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 36 (1): e1054035. Bibcode:2016JVPal..36E4035O. doi:10.1080/02724634.2015.1054035. S2CID85800831.
