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LATEST UPDATES:

Dates for the Spring 2025 Origins Field School are confirmed for January 22 – April 6 (this includes travel days to/from Kenya).

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:

To get the most up-to-date information on the TBI Field School programs, please email turkanabasin@stonybrook.edu

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 2025 Origins Field School are confirmed for January 22 – April 6 (this includes travel days to/from Kenya).
  • Application deadline is November 1st.
  • Earn 15+ upper-division credits
  • Open to all majors

Summer Program

  • Stay tuned for further information regarding Summer 2025!
  • 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:

Resources