Dr. Chuck Downing has a BS in Biology and an MA and PhD in Science Education. He taught high school and university science courses for forty years during which time he was awarded San Diego County Teacher of the Year, Christa McAuliffe Fellow, Fellow of the American Society of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, and Presidential Awardee for Excellence in Science Teaching. Downing authored Making Connections, a four-textbook series of integrating science concepts from various disciplines and co-authored an alternative laboratory manual for Advanced Placement Biology for People's Education and has also authored a series of articles of scientific interest for AccessExcellence.org. He designed and developed educational laboratory exercises for the Science Kit and Ward's Biological Company and also designed and developed biotechnology laboratory kits for Stratagene Cloning Systems. He has been writing stories since the early 1980s and won a Teachers as Writers competition and a short story writing contest through Writer's Digest. Both his Masters Thesis and his Doctoral Dissertation were finalists for Outstanding Submission in their respective years. In March of 2014, Traveler's HOT L was released.