Ishi Keenum

Growing up, Ishi Keenum’s plan was simple: go to college, save the world.

She decided to study civil and environmental engineering, and in March 2018, went to Puerto Rico with fellow members of the U.S. Water Study Research Team to sample rural water systems in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, the island’s largest natural disaster. Not long after Keenum headed up a steep road into one of Puerto Rico’s remote rural communities, where water systems were upended by the storm, her notions of saving the world as a scientist were rocked.