The Bat Signals Hidden in Houston’s Bayous

By Brandon Martin

At dusk, when the skies over Houston’s bayous fade to violet, Alexandria Shockney’s mobile science lab comes to life. 

Shockney drives through the city at night with an ultrasonic microphone taped to the roof of her car. The goal is to capture the invisible chatter of bats, gathering data that could reveal new insights into urban ecology and even human health.

“This is our mobile acoustic monitor,” Shockney explains. “Bats like to speak at a frequency that’s much, much higher than what we can hear. This microphone slows things down and brings it to a level that we can interpret.”

A second-year biosciences doctoral student in the Rummel Lab, Shockney studies the migration physiology of the Mexican free-tailed bat, an iconic species whose nightly flights streak across Houston’s skyline. Her project tracks how bats use different environments — near trees, water or dense urban areas — and how those patterns shift with the seasons.
 

“There’s a huge roost colony at Waugh Bridge, about 300,000 bats,” she says. “A colony that size eats about 2 tons of insects every night. They save Texas farmers millions of dollars in pesticide control each year.”

Before arriving at Rice, Shockney worked as a cardiovascular surgical nurse — experience that informs her fascination with how bats endure extreme physical stress.

“These bats have incredibly high energetic demands for migration, and yet they somehow survive these incredible journeys year after year,” she says. “I’m hoping that by researching how they achieve that, we can apply some of that knowledge to human health.”

Shockney also mentors undergraduates and community college students through partnerships with San Jacinto College, the Houston Area Bat Team and local wildlife groups.

“My day-to-day is project management and mentoring,” she says. “You never know what spark will ignite a love for science in someone.”
 

Her adviser, Andrea Rummel, says Shockney’s path from nursing to bat biology reflects the creativity and initiative that define Rice graduate students.

“Alexandria immediately hit the ground running,” Rummel says. “She basically designed this project from the ground up. She’s doing excellent science, but she’s also communicating that science — reaching out to the public and showing how vital these animals are to our ecosystem.”

For Shockney, that outreach keeps her on Houston’s bayous at dusk. 

“They’ve had a bad stigma for years,” she says, “but I think Houstonians are starting to appreciate our neighborhood flyers.”

From the Winter 2026 issue of Rice Magazine