Dr. Margaret Lowman

Called the “real life Lorax” by National Geographic and the “Einstein of the treetops” by the Wall Street Journal, Meg Lowman exudes a passion for trees and forest conservation. She is an author, explorer, scientist, arbornaut (translation: treetop explorer!), mom, and change-agent for conservation. She has devoted over three decades to exploration and research on treetop secrets, as one of the first pioneers to launch the field of canopy science. Her research on trees takes her to many countries with relatively little scientific infrastructure, where she can make a difference and also mentor girls at every opportunity. Lowman has published eight books and over 125 peer-reviewed publications. Lowman has a BA in Biology, an MS in Ecology, PhD in Botany, and an Executive Management certificate from Tuck School of Business. She has received myriad prizes, including the Margaret Douglas Medal by the Garden Club of America, the Roy Chapman Andrews Distinguished Explorer Award, the Odum Award for Excellence in Education, and the Lowell Thomas Medal by the Explorers Club. She was also named a Kilby Laureate. Her current priorities include creating a UNESCO world heritage forest site in Malaysia and partnering with Ethiopia’s Coptic priests to save their last five percent of remaining forests that exist in church yards. Her mantra is “no child left indoors.”

RCC Research Project: A Girl Who Loved Pistils—Dispatch from the 8th Continent

Selected Publications:

• with Pallaty Allesh Sinu. “Can the Spiritual Values of Forests Inspire Effective Conservation?” Bioscience 67, no. 8 (2017): 688–90.
• with Bryson Voirin. “Drones—Our Eyes on the Environment.” Frontiers in Ecology and Environment 14, no. 5 (2016): 231.
• “Canopy Walkways for Conservation: A Tropical Biologist’s Panacea or Fuzzy Metrics to Justify Ecotourism?” Biotropica 41, no. 5 (2009): 545–48.
• “Forests in the Upper Heights.” In Forests, coordinated by Ximena de la Macorra and sponsored by Grupo Modelo. Mexico: America Natural, 2009.
• with DC Randle. “Ecological Mentoring: Inspiring Future Scientists.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 7, no. 3 (2009): 119.
• with Edward Burgess and James Burgess. It’s A Jungle Up There—More Tales from the Treetops. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006.
• with H. Bruce Rinker, eds. Forest Canopies. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Academic Press, 2004.
• Life in the Treetops: Adventures of a Woman in Field Biology. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999.