Cullen Geiselman

After graduating from Duke University with a BA in Environmental Science and Policy, Cullen Geiselman joined the staff of Bat Conservation International where she taught bat research and land management workshops in Arizona, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania, led natural history tours to Belize, Kenya, and Brazil, developed educational materials for children and adults, as well as presented numerous formal and informal lectures across the US. In an effort to learn more about bats and conservation methods, she entered graduate school at Columbia University in 2003. There she worked with botanist Scott Mori of the New York Botanical Garden investigating the role of bats in seed dispersal and pollination in lowland rainforests of South America. During this time, she spent two years collecting data in an isolated research station in French Guiana and coauthored a book entitled Seed Dispersal by Bats in the Neotropics. In May 2010 she received her doctorate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Columbia University. Cullen currently lives in Houston, works with family on business matters, and administers the Cullen Trust for Health Care, a Texas charitable trust founded in 1978 to grant financial assistance to institutions providing healthcare and health-related research in the greater Houston area. In addition, she serves on the Board of Directors of the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, the Houston Zoo, the Houston Parks Board, the Houston Advanced Research Center, and the Lone Star Coastal Alliance, a newly created friends group to support the proposed Lone Star Coastal National Recreation Area. She continues her work with bats by serving as chair of the board of Bat Conservation International, collaborating with students in Africa and Latin America, and hosting the online Bat Eco-Interactions database.