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Check out our blog and see what our Spring 2024 field school students are up to!

Do you have an interest in science and the world around you? Would you like to visit one of the most remote and interesting parts of Africa? The Turkana Basin Institute (TBI) offers, through Stony Brook University, several remarkable field education opportunities in the Lake Turkana region of Kenya.

In our Origins Field School, students examine the paleontology, archaeology, and ancient environment surrounding Lake Turkana, renowned for its wealth of fossils and artifacts documenting all major stages of human development. Whether participants opt for our Origins Semester program or our Origins Summer program, they will explore important and interesting sites and environments throughout the Turkana Basin. Our new Global Innovation Summer Field School investigates innovative technological solutions to real-life problems with an aim to improve the lives of people around the world.

Get updates on TBI Field School programs:

Origins Field School

OPEN TO ALL MAJORS! Explore the paleontology, archaeology, and ancient environment of the Lake Turkana Basin, in East Africa’s Rift Valley, made famous by the Leakey family and their colleagues for five decades of groundbreaking research into the origins of humankind.

The Origins Field School is offered as two distinct yet integrative programs: the Semester Abroad program, offered in the spring, and the Summer Program. You can attend either or both, as the material covered is complementary rather than duplicative. Each offers the academic adventure of a lifetime as you earn upper-level credits studying at TBI’s state-of-the-art campuses in northern Kenya.

Semester Abroad Program

  • Dates for the Spring 2024 Semester are January 18 – March 30, 2024 (subject to change).
  • Application deadline is November 15th.
  • Earn 15+ upper-division credits
  • Open to all majors

Summer Program

  • Unfortunately we will not be running our Summer program in 2024. Stay tuned for further information regarding next summer!
  • Earn 9 upper-division credits
  • Open to all majors

More Programs

Advanced Graduate Certificate in Human Origins

Taking a gap year? Thinking of transitioning into a Master’s or PhD program in the biological, geological, or prehistoric sciences? Stony Brook University, in partnership with the Turkana Basin Institute, is proud to announce the Advanced Graduate Certificate in Human Origins.

Geology Field Camp

Explore the ancient landscape of the Lake Turkana Basin, one of the most geologically interesting places on earth.

Global Innovation Field School

This multidisciplinary program is designed for all who want to improve the lives of people in the developing world through human-focused design strategies and application of technology. Dates for the 2022 program are coming soon.

Check out this video of the Origins Field School experience:

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