People

I’m Peyton Gardner, an Environmental & Sustainability Studies major with a Biology minor at UNCG, graduating in Spring 2026. My academic and research interests focus on marine ecology, coral reef eco-physiology, and the impacts of microplastics on marine systems. I currently work as a fish behavioral specialist at Pet Supplies Plus, where I help customers maintain healthy freshwater aquariums, and I conduct undergraduate research in longleaf pine restoration. With a strong background in environmental stewardship, fieldwork, and community engagement, I’m passionate about connecting behavioral physiology and conservation to support healthier ecosystems for the future.

Nicole Ardoin is an associate professor of Environmental Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and a senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University. She was Stanford's lead researcher on the eeWORKS initiative in partnership with NAAEE. Professor Ardoin´s research focuses on environmental behavior as influenced by environmental learning and motivated by place-based connections. In particular, she is interested in considerations of geographic scale, which is an understudied yet crucial aspect of people-place relationships in a rapidly globalizing, urbanizing world. Professor Ardoin and members of her Social Ecology Lab work in collaboration with informal organizations, including museums, zoos/aquariums, parks, and residential environmental education programs, with an emphasis on using innovative, non-traditional metrics and adaptive management approaches. She is also interested in philanthropic support of environmental learning initiatives and emergent trends in the field of environmental education research.

Environmental advocate and educator dedicated to social and environmental justice, community empowerment and fostering global citizens. Working to cultivate an inclusive and safe world through connection and education.

As a music student that's minoring in environmental science, I see it as necessary to preserve environments to mantain both ecological balance as well as respect the intrinsic aesthetic value in them. 

• B.A. in English and Anthropology
• M.A. in Environmental Education
• M.S. in Game-based Community Learning
• Creator of Wildkin, a program used coast-to-coast for inspiring student engagement in outdoor programs
• Lead Teacher at Frolicking Ferns 
• Programs Director and Instructor at Whole Earth Nature School (2013-2022)
• Living Earth School Instructor (2013)
• Adams International Montessori School instructor (2012-2013)

My work examines how education can serve as both a mechanism of social reproduction and a catalyst for transformation in the face of environmental challenges. My research investigates climate change education, disaster preparedness, and social change across the Asia-Pacific region.