Joy Trauth

Joy Beth Jones was born in Batesville, Arkansas, in 1952. She graduated from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, with a BS degree in zoology in 1974 and married her comparative anatomy lab instructor, Stan Trauth. She also holds a master’s degree in biology and a Ph.D. in environment sciences from Arkansas State University.

Science education has long been her passion. She has 28 years of teaching experience in grades four through university level, with 16 of those years spent teaching high school physics and biology. After "retiring" to take care of her granddaughter in 2010, Joy wrote nearly 100 general science newspaper articles for non-scientists that were published in a local newspaper.

Joy gives her husband Stan credit as the creative force behind their novel Salamandria. She describes herself as the editor, expander, embelisher. Stan's analogy of their writing relationship is that he provides a tree and Joy decorates it.

Joy now maintains their Salamandria webpage, www.salamandria.org, which includes her own general science blog, aimed at providing general science information for nonscientists and life and physical science explanations for high school and college students. She is also still playing and reading with her now four-year-old granddaughter and her one-year-old sister.

Will there be a sequel to Salamandria? Probably. Stan and Joy have a book title, lots of chapter titles, and a story outline, but not many words on the page yet.