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Kristen Lear

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Kristen Lear is a bat conservationist and environmental educator. She is an Endangered Species Interventions Specialist at Bat Conservation International. Lear is an If/Then ambassador and was featured in the Smithsonian's "#IfThenSheCan - The Exhibit", a collection of life-sized 3D-printed statues of role models in STEM.[1]

Early life and education

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Lear grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio,[2] where she developed an interest in bats from an early age. As a child she loved the book Stellaluna,[3] which features a bat protagonist, and at age 12, she built bat houses for her Girl Scout Silver Award project.[1] Lear graduated from Finneytown High School[4] before going on to receive a BA in zoology from Ohio Wesleyan University and a PhD in integrative conversation from the University of Georgia.

Career

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After completing her undergraduate degree in 2011, Lead earned by Fulbright scholarship to monitor Australia's population of the critically endangered Southern bent-wing bat for 14 months.[3]

She works on the conservation of the Mexican long-nosed bat. As part of her PhD program, she spent four summers in Mexico working on conservation of the bat.[3] At Bat Conversation International, she leads an agave restoration program to benefit endangered pollinating bats (including the Mexican long-nosed bat) in the US and Mexico.[1] Lear is a founding member of the Nivalis Conservation Network, a group of US and Mexican researchers, NGOs, and governmental agencies working on the conservation of the Mexican long-nosed bat.[5]

She was featured on the show Mission Unstoppable, which features women in science and is hosted by Miranda Cosgrove.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "| IF/THEN® Collection". www.ifthencollection.org. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
  2. ^ "Meet a Girl Scout Alum Who is a Real-Life Bat Girl". www.girlscouts.org. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
  3. ^ a b c "Scientist Kristen Lear Takes Bats Under Her Wing | American Association for the Advancement of Science". www.aaas.org. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
  4. ^ a b Mitchell, Madeline. "Cincinnati native and bat expert to be featured on new CBS show 'Mission Unstoppable'". The Enquirer. Retrieved 2022-11-17.
  5. ^ "Kristen Lear - National Geographic Society". explorer-directory.nationalgeographic.org. Retrieved 2022-11-17.