A landscape architecture student at Harvard's Graduate School of Design died in a car accident early Saturday morning, less than three weeks before he was to graduate.

Martin Mildbrandt, 28, was driving southbound on Interstate 495 near Berlin when he apparently fell asleep at the wheel, according to State Trooper Kevin Burke.

State police arrived at the scene at about 7:15 a.m. Saturday after being contacted by a witness to the accident who was riding in another car, Burke said.

According to Burke, the witness told the police that Mildbrandt's head was tilted and that he appeared to be sleeping while the car was in motion. The traffic was light and the road dry at the time, Burke added.

The car apparently drifted off the road and struck a rock ledge, Burke said. Mildbrandt was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mildbrandt was probably driving to a fish pond in the Fitchburg area, northwest of Boston, where he conducted his thesis research, said one of his two Somerville roommates, Wendy Weston.

He may have remained awake all night writing a paper, she added.

Weston and Mildbrandt's other roommate, Irene Sullivan, called Mildbrandt a nature-lover.

"He liked to be outside--camp, hike, mountain bike," Weston said.

According to Mildbrandt's mother, Mary V. Mildbrandt-Wyatt, her son graduated from the landscape school at California Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo at the top of the class, but could not find a job in landscape architecture.

Mildbrandt then decided to join the Peace Corps and travel to the Czech Republic, his mother said.

Mildbrandt lived for two years in a castle in the Czech Republic, she said, where he helped design a national park bordering Austria and Germany.

"He put up with a lot of pain and hardship since no one in the village spoke English," Mildbrandt-Wyatt said. "But by the time he was ready to leave, everyone recognized him as a Czech."

He had a girlfriend in the Czech Republic, his roommates said, and he planned to return there to live.

When Mildbrandt came back to the U.S. from the Czech Republic, his mother said, he said he wanted to return to school.

"I said 'Where?' and he said, 'Harvard,' and I said, 'Holy smokes,'" Mildbrandt-Wyatt said. Mildbrandt then contacted his professors at San Luis Obispo, his mother said. "They all said, 'Go for it, Marty,'" she recalled.

At Harvard, Mildbrandt was working on a thesis about self-sus-taining fish ponds in the Czech Republic, Weston said.

People in the Czech Republic had been feeding themselves out of the fish ponds for over 600 years, Mildbrandt's mother said.

He was continuing to work on the project despite his intended graduation on June 6, Weston said, and had given several speeches on the topic in Cambridge. He hoped to receive a Fulbright scholarship, she added.

Weston said she expects Mildbrandt's thesis to be published posthumously "It was a lot bigger than just school," she said.

Mildbrandt, the youngest of five children, was very close to his family and popular with his peers, Weston said.

"He was really fun, active, positive and upbeat," Weston said. "Everybody loved Marty."

Mildbrandt-Wyatt said her son had enjoyed his time at Harvard, holding down several jobs while excelling in his studies.

"He was doing it on a shoestring, but he did it so well," she said. "He applied himself so beautifully."

"I am very proud of him," she said.

Mildbrandt was a very spiritual person, his roommates said.

"He just felt connected to humanity," Sullivan said.

"He believed that nothing in this life happened accidentally," Weston said. "He would always say, 'serendipity.' It was his favorite word."

Anne Taku, Mildbrandt's sister, said her brother was a "very free spirit."

"Marty enjoyed life absolutely to its fullest," she said. "Every time he'd come home he would just go outside and strip off his T-shirt and bask in the sunshine, looking up at the blue sky and taking in every ray."

Taku said the family has already been contacted by friends in the Czech Republic and students at Harvard whom they have never met.

"Marty touched many, many people around the world," she said.

A memorial service is being planned for next Monday in Memorial Church, Weston said