Ann Christy is a retired Navy Commander with more than twenty-eight years of operational and scientific experience. A graduate of the University of South Carolina and the Naval Postgraduate School, she has a strong educational and professional background in oceanographic and meteorological physics, biochemical marine science, and coastal ecosystems. Her hobbies include watercolor and oil painting (with varying degrees of success), fiber arts, thinking about science, and obsessively reading way too many books. Her favorite people tend to be animals or equally obsessive readers. She also sometimes writes books and is a USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author.