As a bat conservationist, I use science (both natural and social) to study how to protect bat species around the world, and then I work with people to implement conservation projects. I have worked with bats in Texas (where I built and put up bat houses and studied which type of house different bat species preferred), Australia (where I studied a Critically Endangered bat species), and Georgia (where I have led bat house projects and educational campaigns for our local bats). My current PhD research is in northeast Mexico, where I’m working with the conservation of an endangered pollinating bat, the Mexican long-nosed bat. I am working with local communities to start community agave restoration programs to provide food resources (agave nectar) for the bats.

I study the feeding behavior of the bats to figure out exactly what they need, and I also use methods from the social sciences, like anthropology, to interview landowners and learn how we can work together to promote bat conservation and community livelihoods. My job involves a lot of field work, which means being outside a lot! I often get to stay up all night watching bats or trying to catch them!

I am also an environmental educator and science communicator. This means I give lots of talks to the public about bats and the importance of protecting them, and I lead bat walks and bat house building workshops. I try to make bat conservation fun and reachable for everyone, so in all my outreach I teach about how we can all help bats!