Education

Current Positions

• Assistant Professor, School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Research Associate, Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, U.K.
• Research Associate, Unidad Ejecutora Lillo, CONICET, Tucumán, Argentina
• Research Associate, Paleontological Museum Egidio Feruglio, Trelew, Argentina
• Research Associate, Foundation for Scientific Advancement, Sierra Vista, U.S.A.
• Honorary Assistant Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, HKU

Research Interests

• Dinosaur-to-bird transition – feathered dinosaur anatomy, systematics, biology and evolution especially:
  • Soft anatomy
  • Early flight development
  • Feeding, diet and ecology
• Other dinosaur biology and evolution
• Lagerstätten & fossilised soft tissues – imaging, geochemistry and palaeobiology

Representative Publications

1. Pittman, M., Enriquez, N.J., Bell, P.R., Kaye, T.G. & Upchurch, P. 2022. Newly detected skin data from historic sauropod Haestasaurus and review of sauropod skin morphology suggests Early Jurassic origin of skin papillae. Communications Biology, 5:122
2. Pittman, M., Barlow, L.A., Kaye, T.G. & Habib, M.B. 2021. Pterosaurs evolved advanced aerodynamic smoothing of the wing-body junction and sophisticated wing base control to improve flight performance. PNAS, 118(44): e2107631118 [cover issue]
3. Pittman, M. & Xu, X. (editors). 2020. Pennaraptoran theropod dinosaurs: past progress & new frontiers. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 440: 353pp
4. Pei, R.*, Pittman, M.*, Goloboff, P.A., Dececchi, T.A., Habib, M.B., Kaye, T.G., Larsson, H.C.E., Norell, M.A., Brusatte, S.L. & Xu, X. 2020. Potential for powered flight neared by most close avialan relatives, but few crossed its thresholds. Current Biology, 30(2): 4033-4046.e8 [*joint-first and corresponding author; cover issue]
5. Kaye, T.G.* & Pittman, M.*. 2020. Fluorescence-based detection of field targets using an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle system. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 11(8): 890-898 [joint-corresponding author; cover issue]
6. Goloboff, P.A., Pittman, M., Pol, D. & Xu, X. 2018. Morphological datasets fit a common mechanism much more poorly than DNA Sequences and call into question the Mkv Model. Systematic Biology, syy077.
7. Wang, X.L.*, Pittman, M.*, Zheng, X.T., Kaye, T., Falk, A., Hartman, S. & Xu, X. Basal paravian functional anatomy illuminated by high-detail body outline. Nature Communications, 8: 14576 [*joint first-author and corresponding author]
8. Xu, X.*, Currie, P.*, Pittman, M.*, Xing, L.D., Meng, Q.J., Lü, J.C., Dong, H.Y. & Yu, C.Y. 2017. Mosaic evolution in an asymmetrically feathered troodontid dinosaur with transitional features. Nature Communications, 8: 14972. [*joint first-author]
9. Pittman, M., Gatesy, S.M., Upchurch, P., Goswami, A. & Hutchinson, J.R. 2013. Shake a tail feather: the evolution of the theropod tail into a stiff aerodynamic surface. PLOS ONE, 8: e63115.
10. Xu, X., Sullivan, C., Pittman, M., Choiniere, J., Hone, D.W.E., Upchurch, P., Tan, Q.Q., Xiao, D. & Tan, L. 2011. A monodactyl non-avian dinosaur and the complex evolution of alvarezsauroid hand. PNAS, 108(6): 2338-2342.

Research Grants

• 2021-2023, Research Grants Council (RGC) General Research Fund (GRF, Quantitative investigation of the diet of enantiornithines, the most diverse Mesozoic birds, $686,232
• 2021-2022, University Grants Council (of Hong Kong) Special Grant for Strategic Development of Virtual Teaching and Learning, $1,000,000
• 2020-2022, RGC GRF, Functional anatomy of the external and internal soft tissues of the wing of the gliding dinosaur Microraptor and the pteryology of its ‘hindwing’, $673,488
• 2016-2022, The University of Hong Kong (HKU) Vice-President & Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching & Learning) Office, $1,000,000
• 2015-2017, RGC GRF, Reassessing dromaeosaurid evolutionary relationships and understanding of dromaeosaurid evolutionary novelties, $ 416,850
• 2015-2017, HKU University Research Committee PDF Scheme, $300,000
• 2014-2016, University Development Fund, HKU Vice-Chancellor’s Office, $7,000,000
• 2013-22, Private Funding, $510,000

Awards

• Award for Teaching Innovation in E-Learning, Faculty of Science, HKU
• 2018 finalist for edX Prize for Exceptional Contributions in Online Teaching and Learning

Professional Activities

• Associate Editor, Cladistics (2020 – present)
• Committee Member, Hong Kong Regional Group, The Geological Society of London (2020 – present)
• Editorial Board, GigaByte (2020 – present)