Michael Vincent “Vinnie” Hirt was born (four weeks late) in Charleston, SC on his father’s birthday, January 8, 1980, to Al and Dee Hirt. A little over a year later his first sister, Angela, was born. Not long after, the Hirts moved from Mount Pleasant, SC to Indianapolis, IN where his other two sisters, Deanna and Mallary, were born.

Vinnie attended Northeast Co-op Preschool and Saint Matthew Catholic School (K-8). He then went to Bishop Chatard High School where he played junior varsity and varsity soccer, was elected to student government, was the the first and only (as far as he knows) Chatard student to make it to the finals of the Indiana State Science Fair, and had nearly every class with his Woman of Honor, Elizabeth (Hall) Dobrowski.

After high school, Vinnie attended the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill where he earned a B.S. in biology. He met his Best Man, John Folliard, as well as several other life-long friends in Connor Dorm. He tried twice (unsuccessfully) to walk-on to the varsity basketball team.

After college he stayed in Chapel Hill and got a job as an analytical chemist at a water testing firm, Simalabs International, in Burlington, NC. He didn’t care much for chemistry and decided to go to graduate school. He enrolled at John Carroll University in University Heights, OH (a suburb of Cleveland) and studied fish morphology and development with Dr. Miles Coburn. After earning his M.S. in biology he went to the University of Minnesota where he is currently finishing up a Ph.D. in the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Graduate Program. He studies the evolution, morphology, and development of fish with Dr. Andrew Simons. Specifically, he studies the evolutionary history, morphology, and development of gill rakers in freshwater suckers (family Catostomidae). He hopes to find a post-doctoral research position studying evolutionary-developmental biology before getting a tenure-track faculty position.

Vinnie still plays basketball once a week. He enjoys watching Carolina basketball games, riding bicycles, fixing and making things, fishing, taking photographs, and learning to play the banjo.