Kirt received his BS (magna cum laude) from the University of Rochester in Biology-Geology and his PhD from the University of Utah in Community Ecology. An educator with twenty-five years of teaching experience, Kirt has taught for the CTY Program (affiliated with The Johns Hopkins University), the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (Brazil) and the Organization for Tropical Studies (Costa Rica). Prior to his arrival at IAA, Kirt taught high school Biology at Wasatch Academy in central Utah and St. Paul’s in Costa Rica. He has taken his students on five separate expeditions to Costa Rica to study rain forest ecology and work on Leatherback Sea Turtle conservation. He also holds a black belt in Aikido, a traditional Japanese martial art.