Laura L. Mays Hoopes is a biologist turned creative writer.  She is the Halstead-Bent Professor of Biology and Molecular Biology at Pomona College in Claremont, CA.  In June, 2009 she received a Creative Writing Certificate with Distinction from UCLA Extension. Laura has written Breaking Through the Spiral Ceiling, a memoir about growing up in the Eisenhower years, being recruited to science by Sputnik, falling in love with DNA, and crashing into gender-barriers in molecular biology. She is working on two novels and a biography of two prominent women in molecular biology, Joan Steitz and Jennifer Doudna.  Her shorter work has been published in The Chaffin Journal, North Carolina Literary Review, Christian Science Monitor, Rose City Sisters, The Scientist, AWIS Magazine, and other magazines and newspapers.  One of her stories was a Finalist for Story of the Year on Rose City Sisters online anthology in 2009.  A poem about Chopin came out in March, 2009 in Chopin with Cherries anthology (Lulu availability).  Laura enjoys the Inland Empire California Writers Club where she is President and Editor of theFresh Ink newsletter.

Laura Hoopes lives near Los Angeles with her husband Mike, a chemist who has been called to the ministry.  Her son, rock bassist and lawyer lives in Chicago, and her opera diva/MBA seeker daughter lives in Santa Cruz.  Her web sites are www.lauralmayshoopes.com and www.westcoastwriters.blogspot.com .