Carlotta Shearson, the proprietor of Shearson Editorial Services, is a BELS-certified editor in the life sciences (ELS). She received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1985 from Case Western Reserve University, where she did two years of undergraduate research under the direction of the late Lawrence Sayre. She did graduate work, also in chemistry, in the laboratories of Professor Clayton Heathcock at the University of California at Berkeley, from which she received her master’s degree in 1987. Subsequently, she spent four years working as a synthetic organic chemist in the agricultural chemicals industry, synthesizing novel pesticide candidates. She has been a freelance editor of books and scientific journal articles since 1991, working on a wide range of topics, including chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology, as well as sociology, cultural studies, paleontology, ornithology, popular science, and quilting and other handicrafts. For more than 30 years, she has specialized in presubmission editing (language polishing) of scientific journal articles by authors for whom English is a foreign language. She lives in the Hudson Valley of New York State with her family and a Siamese mix named Lulu, along with numerous computers and bicycles and a large stash of yarn and fabric.