A Full-Circle Moment

By Stefanie Waldek

hen embarking on a path of study, many people think they know which career path they would like to take. But, in many cases, the original path takes a completely new direction. That was certainly true for Shahroukh Mistry, Ph.D., who is now a professor of biology at Butte College in California and a member of Bat Conservation International (BCI)’s Board of Directors.

“I had never considered working on bats before I came to the United States for graduate studies,” Mistry says. “As a student in India, my passion was avian biology, and my first publication was on the nesting behavior of weaver birds.” However, as a graduate student at the University of Tennessee, Mistry joined his advisor, bat biologist Gary McCracken, Ph.D., for a summer research project in Texas.

“My first-ever experience with bats was standing at the opening of Davis Cave in the evening as hundreds of thousands of bats exited the cave and flew right past me, so close and yet not touching me,” Mistry says. “The breeze their wingbeats created was palpable as was the occasional drizzle of ‘rain.’ I was hooked.”

Something that drew Mistry to bats is the unknown—he notes that, unlike birds, bats are vastly understudied. “Because of their nocturnal activity, they have not received as much attention as their showy diurnal counterparts with brightly colored plumage and audible vocalizations,” Mistry says. “Bats, for the most part, are darkly furred, rarely visible, and perpetually associated with sinister mythology. There is so much to learn, so many questions. Even now, it feels like we have barely scratched the surface.”

Mistry encountered the BCI Student Scholar program during his Ph.D. work at the University of New Mexico with James Brown. His project involved plant-animal interactions in India, and he needed funding for fieldwork. He applied for the program and received the scholarship, which allowed him to continue with his original project. He says that without that support, he likely would have had to change his topic to something more local and less costly.

Ultimately, Mistry’s journey has inspired him to work with the next generation of bat enthusiasts. He is a professor at Butte College, where he uses bats as a model system for students to learn biology.

In addition to his academic work, he also serves on BCI’s Board of Directors. “Being an educator has always been a passion for me and has driven most of my career,” he says. “Instilling a sense of curiosity and providing undergraduates with an opportunity to experience research has been central to my career.”

He recommends that anyone interested in pursuing the sciences maintain that curiosity throughout their studies and career. “One of the hardest parts of becoming a scientist is learning how to ask meaningful questions. Ask what others are not doing rather than expanding on existing work,” Mistry advises. “Bottom line—be curious. Don’t let your inner child ever stop asking why.”