What happens before the rain begins?

Long before storm clouds roll in, water resource engineers are already at work, using science, engineering, and technology to predict floods, protect communities, safeguard clean drinking water, and design the systems that keep our world flowing.

In this episode of Majors, Minors & Maybes, Dr. W sits down with water resource engineer Tori Morgan to uncover one of STEM's most impactful and often overlooked careers. You'll discover what water resource engineers really do, the challenges they solve every day, where they work, how to become one, and why this career is becoming increasingly important as communities face climate change, population growth, and aging infrastructure.

You'll also step into the shoes of a fictional water resource engineer during a high-stakes storm event, giving you a behind-the-scenes look at how engineering decisions made before the first raindrop falls can protect entire neighborhoods.

Whether you're a student exploring STEM careers, a parent, educator, or simply someone who's ever wondered where your drinking water comes from or how cities prepare for severe weather, this episode will change the way you think about the world around you.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• What a water resource engineer does
• How engineers help prevent floods and protect water resources
• The education and career path into water resources engineering
• Where water resource engineers work beyond engineering firms
• What a typical day looks like in the office and in the field
• The skills that make someone successful in this growing STEM career

Because sometimes the most important careers are the ones you never notice until something goes wrong.

🎧 Subscribe to Majors, Minors & Maybes and join Dr. W as she uncovers curious careers, one story at a time.

Show Notes:

Dr. W hosts Majors, Minors, and Maybes to spotlight water resources engineering, a career focused on protecting communities from floods and drought, ensuring clean drinking water, and preparing cities for climate change using hydrology, GIS, and computer modeling. A vignette follows Lori, who uses a hydraulic “digital twin” of the city to forecast storm impacts, coordinate with public works and emergency management, clear a culvert and storm drains, and prevent flooding during a major rain event. Engineer Tori Morgan explains the role’s civil/environmental roots, daily challenges like aging pipelines and emerging contaminants such as PFOS, and the hidden systems behind a faucet from supply and treatment to distribution. The episode covers pathways (consulting, utilities, academia, nonprofits, and agencies like EPA/FDEP), education, internships, PE licensing, typical work mix, salaries, and a “curious career fact” about watershed digital twins, ending with a community observation challenge and a tease of the next episode on smart city planners.

00:00 Water Crisis Hook

00:44 Meet the Career

01:27 Why Water Fails

02:48 Lori Storm Day

04:51 Stopping Floods Early

07:49 Invisible Wins

08:30 Skills and Interests Fit

09:27 Expert Defines Role

10:15 Aging Pipes and PFAS

12:26 From Faucet Backwards

14:24 Career Paths Options

19:07 Education Internships PE

21:37 Day to Day Balance

22:48 Salary and Demand

24:13 Projects That Inspire

30:19 Digital Twins Fact

31:18 Be a Water Detective

32:22 Next Episode Teaser

33:06 Final Sign Off

What if your favorite store, hotel, or airport was designed to be memorable before you ever saw a logo?

In this episode of Majors, Minors & Maybes, we're following our noses into the fascinating world of the Olfactory Branding Consultant, the professionals who use scent to shape experiences, influence emotions, and help brands tell unforgettable stories.

Meet Lila, a former chemistry student turned scent strategist, as she tackles a unique challenge: creating a signature fragrance for a sustainable shoe company's first retail store. Along the way, we'll explore how chemistry, psychology, marketing, and creativity come together in one of the most unexpected careers you've probably never heard of.

You'll discover:

• How companies use scent to build brand identity and customer loyalty
• The science behind why smells trigger powerful memories and emotions
• What olfactory branding consultants actually do day-to-day
• Education paths, internships, salaries, and career opportunities in the fragrance and sensory experience industry
• Why some of the world's most recognizable brands invest in signature scents

Whether you're a student exploring career possibilities, a teacher looking for real-world STEM connections, or simply curious about the invisible forces shaping everyday experiences, this episode will leave you seeing and smelling the world a little differently.

Sometimes the most powerful branding isn't what you see, it's what you smell.

New episodes biweekly. Follow, share, and join us as we uncover curious careers one story at a time.

Show Notes:

The Career Behind Signature Scents: Olfactory Branding Consultants

Dr. W explores olfactory branding consulting, a career blending chemistry, psychology, marketing, and creativity to help brands shape customer emotions and memory through signature scents. The episode explains how scent influences trust, mood, spending, and return visits, and highlights its growing use in hospitality, retail, fashion, and healthcare. A vignette follows Lila, a former chemistry major in New York City, as she researches a sustainable shoe brand and develops a custom in-store fragrance through “scent sketching” and iterative testing. Dr. W then breaks down what consultants do, where they work, common education pathways and training, internships, key skills, schedules, flexibility, and salary ranges. The episode notes Singapore Changi Airport’s custom “orchid tea” scent and ends with a challenge to notice designed scents and a teaser for a future episode on water resources engineering.

00:00 Smell Shapes Behavior

00:57 Meet Scent Strategists

02:15 Lila Builds A Brand Scent

04:40 Why Scent Works

06:37 Office Hours Overview

07:19 What They Actually Do

07:56 Where They Work

08:56 Degrees And Training Paths

10:48 Skills Beyond Smelling

11:18 Schedule And Lifestyle

12:38 Salary And Growth

13:21 Curious Career Fact

14:06 Challenge And Wrap Up

15:05 Next Episode Teaser

15:48 Final Goodbye

What if the next breakthrough in cancer treatment, genetic research, or personalized medicine depended on someone you've probably never heard of?

In this episode of Majors, Minors & Maybes, we're uncovering the fascinating world of the Scientific Curator. The STEM professional responsible for organizing, preserving, and protecting the biological samples and scientific data that fuel life-changing medical discoveries.

Through a compelling fictional story inspired by real careers, you'll step inside a high-security biobank where one tiny data error could derail years of precision medicine research. Then, we'll pull back the curtain on the real career: where scientific curators work, how to become one, the education path, salary expectations, and why this behind-the-scenes profession is becoming increasingly important in biotechnology, genomics, healthcare, and biomedical research.

Whether you're a student exploring STEM careers, an educator introducing career pathways, or simply curious about the hidden jobs shaping our future, this episode will change the way you think about modern medicine.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• What a Scientific Curator actually does
• How scientific curation supports precision medicine and genomic research
• Where Scientific Curators work: from hospitals and biobanks to pharmaceutical companies and research institutes
• Degrees, skills, and education pathways into the field
• Career outlook, salary insights, and work style
• A surprising "Curious Career Fact of the Week" about preserving biological samples for future discoveries

Sometimes the biggest breakthroughs in science begin with the people making sure every sample, every record, and every detail is exactly where it needs to be.

Show Notes:

Scientific Curator: The Hidden Guardian of Biobanks and Precision Medicine

Dr. W. hosts “Majors, Minors, and Maybes” to spotlight the scientific curator, a behind-the-scenes profession that organizes, preserves, and safeguards biological samples and scientific data critical to precision medicine. The episode explains how curators work across hospitals, labs, universities, pharma, biotech, genomic centers, and biobanks to ensure proper storage, accurate labeling, ethical consent, legal compliance, and traceable sample histories so research remains trustworthy. A fictional vignette follows Dr. Lena Morales, lead curator at the Meridian Genomics Institute, who detects a single transposed digit that misrouted a trial sample, halts downstream analysis, and prevents compromised cancer research. Dr. W outlines typical education pathways, key skills (systems thinking, databases, quality control, ethics, genomics/bioinformatics), work style, and salary ranges, and notes biobanks may store specimens in liquid nitrogen at -196°C. The episode ends by teasing olfactory branding consultants for next time.

00:00 Frozen Future Vial

00:44 Meet Scientific Curators

02:27 Precision Medicine Stakes

03:19 Lena in the Biobank

04:24 Barcode Error Crisis

05:47 Why This Role Matters

06:43 Office Hours Breakdown

07:03 Where Curators Work

08:20 Education Pathways

09:43 Day to Day Work Style

10:53 Salary and Growth

12:24 Curious Fact Time Capsules

12:55 Listener Questions Wrap

13:46 Next Episode Teaser