Mary I. O'Connor is an Associate Professor in the Zoology Department and Associate Director of the Biodiversity Research Centre at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. O'Connor is a leader in metabolic ecology research, using experiments, data synthesis and theoretical models to understand change in aquatic ecosystems, including causes and consequences of biodiversity change and climate change impacts. O’Connor is an External Faculty of the Santa Fe Institute, Affiliate of the Hakai Beach Institute, and currently serves on the Secretariat of the Western Society of Naturalists. O'Connor lab researchers participate in research collaborations and networks worldwide, including the marine coastal Zostera Experimental Network (ZEN), Canadian Healthy Oceans Network (CHONE2), the Canadian Institute for Ecology and Evolution (CIEE ), and iDiv Synthesis Centre. She is a winner of UBC’s Killam Research Prize and the International Professional Research Excellence prize in 2016. O'Connor earned a BS in Aquatic Ecology from Brown University (2000), and a PHD from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2008, followed by a postdoc at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS).