Haresh Thiyagarajan

Haresh first found his passion for sustainability through his own Impact project with household water systems. His project looked at the hydro efficiency of residential dishwashing by enforcing a strict full-load operating protocol and quantifying the resulting reduction in water consumption. By tracking the usage and data over several weeks, he measured savings of about 14 gallons per week, which in turn adds up to over 728 gallons and almost 10 dollars saved every single year from just one deviation from a daily habit. This project showed him how such a small change in everyday systems that we live in every single day can turn into meaningful impact on our very own environment, and it gave him a much deeper interest in conservation of material, sustainable engineering, and solving environmental problems in the real world.

Through his role, Haresh works to connect both research and community engagement by making complex scientific ideas a lot more accessible and actionable. He is especially interested in how innovation, individual behavior, and local action can come together to create lasting, long-term change. Outside of his work as a Sustainability Ambassador, Haresh enjoys medicine and biology, playing music, and giving back to his community through Boy Scouts, where he serves as Senior Patrol Leader and is working toward the rank of Eagle Scout. He is committed to learning, collaboration, and helping drive environmental change within his community.