After graduating from Duke University with a BA in Environmental Science and Policy, Cullen Geiselman joined Bat Conservation International, where she taught bat research and land management workshops. She led natural history tours to Belize, Kenya, and Brazil, developed educational materials, and presented lectures nationwide. Seeking deeper insights into bats and conservation methods, she pursued graduate studies at Columbia University starting in 2003. Under the guidance of botanist Scott Mori, she spent two years at an isolated research station in French Guiana. Her research culminated in coauthoring "Seed Dispersal by Bats in the Neotropics" and earning her doctorate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in May 2010.