After retiring from an engineering career in the technology industry, Kim Ort joined the Texas Master Naturalists Hays County Chapter in 2011. Inspired by nature and a thirst for knowledge, Kim pursued a MS in Wildlife Ecology at Texas State University. Her thesis research was the mating evolution of Craugastor Augustii and Eleutherodactylus Marnockii in subterranean geology of Central Edwards Plateau.