Education

Current Positions

• Assistant Professor, School of Life Sciences, CUHK
• 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. Dececchi, T. A., Kim, K. S., Lockley, M. G., Larsson, H. C. E., Holtz, T. R., Jr, Farlow, J. O., & Pittman, M. 2024. Theropod trackways as indirect evidence of pre-avian aerial behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 121(44), e2413810121.
2. Pol, D., Baiano, M. A., Černý, D., Novas, F. E., Cerda, I. A., & Pittman, M. 2024. A new abelisaurid dinosaur from the end Cretaceous of Patagonia and evolutionary rates among the Ceratosauria. Cladistics : the international journal of the Willi Hennig Society, 40(3), 307–356.
3. Pittman, M., Bell, P. R., Miller, C. V., Enriquez, N. J., Wang, X., Zheng, X., Tsang, L. R., Tse, Y. T., Landes, M., & Kaye, T. G. 2022. Exceptional preservation and foot structure reveal ecological transitions and lifestyles of early theropod flyers. Nature communications, 13(1), 7684.
4. Pittman, M., Kaye, T. G., Wang, X., Zheng, X., Dececchi, T. A., & Hartman, S. A. 2022. Preserved soft anatomy confirms shoulder-powered upstroke of early theropod flyers, reveals enhanced early pygostylian upstroke, and explains early sternum loss. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119(47), e2205476119.
5. 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
6. 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]
7. Pittman, M. & Xu, X. (editors). 2020. Pennaraptoran theropod dinosaurs: past progress & new frontiers. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 440: 353pp
8. 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]
9. 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]
10. 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.
11. 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]
12. 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]
13. 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.
14. 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)