10/08/2026
🦇 Honoring a Legacy of Bat Conservation and Giving Back!
For more than four decades, Dr. Jacqueline (Jackie) Belwood has dedicated her career to understanding and protecting bats across the globe.
A proud University of Florida alumna, Jackie earned her M.S. in Wildlife Ecology and Ph.D. in Entomology. Her research on bat feeding ecology, echolocation, and community ecology has taken her across North, Central, and South America, the Caribbean, Hawaii, and Palau.
Her contributions to bat conservation are extensive. In 1979, she rediscovered the now-endangered Florida bonneted bat in South Florida. She also served as interim Science Director at Bat Conservation International and developed a statewide bat conservation, research, and outreach program at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History.
Jackie's connection to UF's bats goes back to her graduate student days, when she spearheaded construction of the university's first large bat house. Since 2025, she has continued that legacy by leading efforts to expand research and outreach involving the bats that call UF home.
Recently retired from Georgia Highlands College, Jackie is also preparing to co-host the North American Symposium on Bat Research in Gainesville in fall 2028!
💚 We extend our sincere gratitude to Jackie for her generous donation to Dr. Ho Yi Wan's Landscape Ecology, Informatics, and AI (LEIA) Lab at UF. Her generosity and lifelong commitment to wildlife conservation are an inspiration to the next generation of researchers and conservationists.
Thank you, Jackie, for your continued support of wildlife research, education, and conservation!
📸 Photo: Jackie holding a Mexican free-tailed bat, featured in The Gainesville Sun in an article highlighting UF's bat houses.
