Joe Szewczak
Founder, Lead Developer
curriculum vitae

Joe Szewczak, B.S.E. (1980) Duke University, Ph.D. (1991) Brown University, is a Professor at Cal Poly Humboldt. Joe grew up pursuing all things in the natural world but followed his techie side to an undergraduate degree in engineering. After some years of practicing engineering, he found his way back to living things for a graduate degree. For his thesis and early career work he investigated the extraordinary physiological capabilities of bats and other small mammals, from cold torpor to the intense demands of flight and high altitude, and the physiological ecology of bats, that is, the integrated effects of the environment upon the organism. He documented that hibernating bats could go without breathing for two and a half hours and determined the mechanism by which they accomplish such a feat. Joe eventually found a wonderful synergy uniting his techie and biological skills for his current focus working to improve non-invasive recognition of bats and this lead him to develop SonoBat to analyze and interpret bat vocalizations. Dr. Szewczak has taught bat field courses and workshops for more than three decades throughout the United States and abroad.