Not many of us can claim three careers in one single lifetime, but that’s been a day in the life of this month’s Waterborne Living Legend: Scott Dyer. Internationally renowned and at the forefront of regulatory-based science and research, Scott has achieved acclaim for his Environmental Risk Assessment expertise and the vast experience he earned within the corporate world as a college professor and as a senior environmental consultant. A mentor to many and humble about his own achievements, Scott says, “I am most proud of the people I’ve worked with. I’ve enjoyed watching them grow as scientists, risk assessors, and communicators.”

In this month’s feature, we’ll take a look at Scott’s career and life, from iStream® to jazz bands. According to Scott, “my work is always interesting. I enjoy learning and understanding how materials and chemicals may impact the environment.”

A native Iowan and son of an Iowa State University faculty member, it made sense that Scott’s environmental science work began at this esteemed institution. It was there that he earned first his undergraduate degree in Biology and then a Masters degree in Toxicology under the guidance of Professor Joel Coats, who helped Scott understand “how materials find their way into our environment, including their mechanisms of action and potential on the food chain.” This process inspired Scott’s M.S. Thesis “Effects of hardness and salinity on the acute toxicity and uptake of fenvalerate by bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)”.

In 1991, Scott graduated from The University of North Texas  his PhD in Biology. It was here that he was exposed to Geographic Information Systems—GIS—and had his eyes opened to, “how this technology can aid understanding  spatial and temporal factors that can affect organism and aquatic communities’ health.” A grant from the United States Air Force helped him study stress proteins, also known as heat-shock proteins, in fish and how they may serve as indicators of exposure and adverse effects.  The title of his dissertation was:  “Evaluation of the efficacy of the stress protein response as a biochemical biomonitoring tool”.

Soon after graduating, Procter & Gamble (P&G) recruited Scott and he began a 27-year career working with the global conglomerate on both a U.S.-based and international scale. It was this work that has best contributed to Scott’s legendary personal network. In addition to his industry connections, he has cultivated lasting professional relationships with industry colleagues, academics and regulators in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. It was while at P&G that Scott began working his relationship with Waterborne. “I had worked with Waterborne’s team for a decade before joining as an Advisor. Waterborne maintains an impressive level of internal expertise. They—now me, as well—offer high level value to the down-the-drain product/chemical industry.”

While at P&G, Scott became an expert at down-the-drain environmental risks which led to his work with P&G’s largest volume ingredients: surfactants. He has published over 100 papers on environmental risk assessments  and became known as a leading expert on the subject. His work soon led him to take the ROUT model that worked on a mainframe computer to incorporate GIS and become GIS-ROUT as a desktop tool.

In 2018, Scott realized he’d achieved all that he wanted to at P&G and decided it was time for a career shift. Before leaving, he was instrumental in getting GIS-ROUT  licensed to the American Cleaning Institute and become a publicly accessible tool now known as iSTREEM®.  His friends at Waterborne curate this modeling tool that is now available to everyone.

A few months after leaving P&G, Scott began the next phase of his storied career. Never one to do anything by halves, Scott became an Associate Professor of Biology at LeTourneau University AND Waterborne’s Senior Scientific Advisor. “I enjoy mentoring. I find it thrilling when young minds open up and start asking good questions.”

Today, Scott splits his time between teaching and consulting on Cleaning, Personal Care and Health & Beauty industry projects. “I really enjoy working with my Waterborne colleagues. The organization fosters collaboration. We seamlessly work with each other to ensure that the best expert is available for each client task.”

In addition to his dual career tracks, Scott maintains a busy schedule of freshwater fishing and playing the tenor saxophone in local jazz bands with his wife of 40 years. High school sweethearts, he and his wife have raised four children and have 4 grandchildren with another on the way. Traveling to spend time with his children and grandchildren affords Scott ample opportunity to get back out to nature and enjoy time on the water.