Maya Warren wants the world to know something about scientists: Were not just nerds.

Warren, 29, intends to prove that on The Amazing Race. The Rosati-Kain High School graduate, who is completing her doctorate in food science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, races around the world with friend and lab mate Amy DeJong in the 25th season of the Emmy-winning reality competition, now underway on CBS.

Warren and DeJong compete as the Sweet Scientists because of their specialties. Warren studies ice cream (the microstructure, behavioral and sensorial properties of frozen-aerated treats); DeJong, candy.

And yes, Warrens early interest in frozen desserts was sparked in part by visits to Ted Drewes. Her on-screen tag reads Madison, Wis., but Warren is a St. Louisan through and through, explaining that she grew up in the Ferguson-Florissant area and attended grade school at the Cathedral Basilica.

I always loved food, and I loved science, and I was so excited when I found out I could combine them as a career, she says. And ice cream who doesnt love ice cream?

Warren had been a fan of The Amazing Race for years and had always thought she would try out some day. I imagined Id race with my future husband, but Im not married yet, so that was a problem.

When she learned about an open casting call in Chicago last fall, she brainstormed with DeJong, 24, with whom she shares a lab.

I was going to be in Chicago then anyway, to run the Chicago Marathon (see? not just a nerd) and I talked her into going along. We had nothing to lose, so why not?

The two wrote a skit and got a tryout in which we blabbed and blabbed. They went away thinking, cool, that was fun.

Casting producers moved them along. I think they liked our careers, Warren says. Theyve never had a team of women Ph.D. candidates before, and the fact that our specialties are ice cream and candy made us unique. We just had to make sure our personalities matched.

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The sweet science of 'The Amazing Race'