Irú Milesi Rava
Student Vanderbilt Univeristy
Irú Milesi Rava is an undergraduate at Vanderbilt University, majoring in Mechanical-Engineering and Climate & Environmental Studies. He comes from Uruguay, first country to make drinking water a human right, though still fighting to make that real. His appreciation for water steems from the dependency his family, which runs an agroecological farm, has on it. Three experiences shaped him. Growing up in an ecovillage, he learned that a life in balance with nature and community is possible and enriching. At fifteen, to access a scholarship to one of Uruguay's best schools, he spent a year of weekends converting a former butcher's shop into an apartment in Montevideo, learning that dreams require effort and leaving your confort-zone. At UWC-Atlantic in Wales, he learned the value of difference and system thinking and how to use it to reach shared goals. Irú brings both technical and social skills to water. In Uruguay, he interned as a small-scale water-treatment engineer and stood as a water activist defending the resource; in the Bristol-Channel he trained in ocean rescue and worked on recycling ocean plastic into lifeboat equipment; in Malaysia, he researched hydroponic-farming and urban food-systems, pairing technology with water to grow food in almost any environment.