G. Peabody "Peabo" Gardner Memorial Fund

A gift from William B. Lowe (Harvard AB '71) established the G. Peabody "Peabo" Gardner Memorial Fund in support of the Harvard Summer Research Program in Ecology. The Fund supports Harvard undergraduates to work one-on-one with Harvard FAS faculty from science departments including Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Earth and Planetary Sciences, and Anthropology, on cutting-edge ecological and environmental research at the Harvard Forest and in Cambridge. The Fund provides awards towards participants' stipend, room, board, research supplies, and travel.

Recipients

2024

Ashley Dawn '26 (mentored by Jackie Matthes and Jon Gewirtzman): Methane Dynamics in Aquatic-Terrestrial Interfaces: Insights from Harvard Forest Wetlands {link: Methane Dynamics in Aquatic-Terrestrial Interfaces: Insights from Harvard Forest Wetlands}

2023

Isa Gooijer '24 (mentored by Nikhil Chari and Thomas Muratore): Going Underground: Effects of Soil Warming and Nitrogen Addition on Root Exudation Rates of Arbuscular and Ectomycorrhizal Associating Trees in Harvard Forest

2022

Lorelei Wolf '24 (mentored by Sophie Everbach): Digging out the Root of the Problem: Understanding Hemlock Tree Mortality through Root Resource Allocation

2021

Arturo Aguilar '24. (mentored by Benton Taylor): Exudate in, Carbon out: the effect of specific root exudates on soil carbon dynamics

2019

• Elida Kocharian '21 (mentored by Steve Wofsy and J. William Munger): Years to Decades: Cross-comparison of annual tree growth using band dendrometers
  

2017

• Molly Leavens '19 (mentored by Audrey Barker Plotkin and J. William Munger): Post-Harvest Carbon Dynamics: Assessing the climate implications of wood energy.

2016

• Catherine “Katie” Polik '19 (mentored by Jerry Melillo and Jeff Blanchard):  Explaining Thermal Acclimation of Soil Respiration in Response to Prolonged Soil Warming

2015

• Forrest Lewis ’17 (mentored by Bill Munger ):  Bounding Error for Total Carbon Stock Estimates in Harvard Forest Organic Soil

2014

• Sidni Frederick '16 (mentored by Andrew Richardson): Monitoring Spring Phenophase Transitions with UAV Imagery 
• Luis Perez '15 (mentored by Emery Boose and Barbara Lerner): Accessible and Efficient Data Provenance in the R Scripting Environment  

2013

• Dmitri Ilushin '13 (mentored by Andrew Richardson): The Effects of Differing Tracking Methods for Vegetative Phenology

2012

• Anne Cervas ’14 (mentored by David Foster): Changing vegetation structure in current and former plantations at Harvard Forest
• Dmitri Ilushin ’14 (mentored by Andrew Richardson) : Alternatives to remote sensing of phenology
• Kelsey McKenna ’15 (mentored by Stacey Combes): Does bumblebee body size affect foraging distance or flight maneuverability?

2011

• Jakob Lindaas ’13 (mentored by Steve Wofsy and Bill Munger): Fine woody debris dynamics after an ice storm disturbance event

2010

• Lisa Chen ’11 (mentored by Missy Holbrook): Azimuthal variations in sap flux density in tree vascular systems
• Sarah Choudhury ’12 (mentored by Missy Holbrook): Using Granier style thermal dissipation probes to analyze canopy-bole time lags and interspecies differences in daily sap flow patterns
• Adam Clark ’11 (mentored by Aaron Ellison): Ants on the Boston Harbor Islands: classical island biogeography and island-scale species richness

2009

• Sonia DeYoung '10 (mentored by David Foster): Effects of ungulate browsing on the growth of red maple and other hardwoods

2008

• Lee Hilton Dietterich '10 (mentored by Missy Holbrook): Calcium deficiency and whole plant water relations in sugar maple
• Katherine Farley ’10 (mentored by Anne Pringle): Dispersal of yeasts in the Sarracenia purpurea metacommunity
• James Onstad '09 (mentored by Missy Holbrook): Hydraulic mechanisms controlling leaf senescence in sugar maple and red oak

Biographies

Mr. G. Peabody "Peabo" Gardner, Jr. was born to a Boston family whose connections to Harvard University go back generations. After attending Saint Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts, he entered Harvard, graduating cum laude in 1970. The Kirkland House resident was a member of the A.D. final club and Naval ROTC.

After graduation, Mr. Gardner served as a junior grade officer in the Naval Supply Corps on the submarine USS Fulton in New London, Connecticut, until 1973. He then worked for Sotheby's in New York for two years before moving to a private art gallery. Mr. Gardner returned to school at Babson College, where he received his MBA in 1979. He began working in development for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where he stayed until 1989. He left to become more involved with the Boston auction house of Grogan & Company. One year later Mr. Gardner found himself back at Harvard, working for the Harvard College Fund, where he became director of Leadership Giving.

Mr. Gardner died on September 5, 2007, from cancer. In the last week of his life, he was asked how he would describe himself to his great-great-great grandchildren. Without hesitation, Mr. Gardner responded, "I'd just like them to know that I was a good human being, that I was a caring human being."

Mr. William B. Lowe was born in Paris, France, and attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, before arriving at Harvard College. A resident of Lowell House, he participated in the Hasty Pudding Theatricals and was a member of the Fly Club.

After graduation, Mr. Lowe moved to New York City and took a job in a bank, where he began learning about trading. For 11 years, he worked in New York as a trader. Then he and several colleagues opened up a trading company in Florida. During this transition, Mr. Lowe met his future wife, Jo, who introduced him to the extraordinary landscape of Idaho, where they eventually decided to settle. They were married in 1983, and Mr. Lowe continued his career as a trading and market consultant in this new and "diversely beautiful" community.

After the creation of his second trading partnership, Mr. Lowe began exploring other ventures, including an independent record label based in Portland, Oregon, and an intellectual property company in Pocatello, Idaho. Mr. Lowe stayed connected to Harvard through volunteering with the Harvard College Fund Reunion Committee and through his support of the Harvard University Center for the Environment.

Mr. Gardner and Mr. Lowe became friends as undergraduates, and their relationship continued as alumni and through their involvement with the Harvard College Fund. Upon Mr. Gardner's death, Mr. Lowe decided to name a gift in memory of his good friend. One of Mr. Lowe's passions lies with the environment, and he decided that a gift to the Harvard Forest would support his mission of assisting undergraduates and helping the environment at the same time.