Meng, shown here boating on the Hell Creek, has a Master’s Degree in Paleontology from Nanjing University in China. He was awarded a Hall International Fellowship from the Biology Department for graduate studies. He advanced to PhD candidacy in June of 2010. His research focuses on Mesozoic mammals and interpretations of their postcranial functional morphology and paleoecology. In addition to examination of fossils, this work relies on quantification of (i) osteological correlates of locomotor function in diverse extant mammals and (ii) ecological structure in extant mammal communities from diverse habitats.