Turkana Basin Institute at 20: Celebrating Two Decades of Discovery, Collaboration and Legacy

Stony Brook University marked a major milestone by hosting a full-day conference celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI), a partnership between the university and the late paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey that has transformed research, education, and community engagement in Kenya’s remote northern region.

The October 22 event — “TBI @ 20: Two Decades of Daring to Dig Deeper” — brought faculty, staff, students, and researchers to the Charles B. Wang Center to honor two decades of scientific innovation and to pave the path toward the institute’s future.

Founded in 2005 by Leakey in collaboration with Stony Brook, TBI has become one of the world’s most significant natural laboratories, supporting year-round fieldwork, training, and discovery in areas spanning human evolution, archaeology, geology, human adaptation, and climate change.

“Richard Leakey was not only a transformational scholar, he was also an inspiring mentor,” said Stony Brook President Andrea Goldsmith in her opening remarks. “He mentored so many future paleontologists and anthropologists, including students from Stony Brook who had never seen a fossil before and left forever changed. If we looked at the impact of Richard Leakey in terms of his mentorship, it would be just as profound as his founding of the Turkana Basin Institute.”

Goldsmith, who serves on the Turkana Basin Institute’s International Advisory Board, described TBI as “a model of interdisciplinary collaboration and a global example of how research, education, and community can come together to advance science and opportunity.” She also announced her plans to visit the Turkana Basin this coming January, where she will join Stony Brook’s Simons STEM Scholars during their three-week field school at TBI.

“Many of these students have never left the country,” she said. “To take them to TBI to experience the magic of this place — to see discovery come alive — is something I want to witness firsthand.”

Goldsmith emphasized that TBI’s legacy is not only rooted in research, but also in its commitment to the communities who call northern Kenya home. “Our service to the community in Kenya helps support the Turkana Basin,” she said. “That connection — between education, research, and humanity — makes TBI a very special part of our university.”

She also introduced Gabrielle A. Russo, associate professor in the Department of Anthropology, recently named the interim director of TBI, and Gregory Henkes, associate professor in the Department of Geosciences, who serves as associate director of TBI.

“I’ve been part of the TBI research community for nearly a decade, and have previously served as the institute’s Associate Director and then Deputy Director,” Russo said. “Now, it is an honor to serve both the TBI and SBU community as TBI’s interim director.”

The conference also featured lightning talks (brief two-minute research talks) from students who participated in various TBI field schools, undergraduate and graduate student TBI researchers, as well as from members of the 2025 cohort of Simons STEM Scholars, who shared reflections on their experiences during the Simons STEM Scholars Program Field School at TBI in Kenya in January 2025. Faculty affiliated with TBI presented their ongoing research, highlighting the institute’s impact on advancing the study of human origins, earth sciences, and ecology.

Provost Carl Lejuez discussed the institute’s role in advancing Stony Brook’s global mission. “TBI represents what’s best about Stony Brook — discovery with purpose,” he said. “It brings together faculty, students, and international partners to tackle the biggest questions about who we are and where we come from. And it does so with a deep respect for the communities that make that work possible.”

Kevin Gardner, vice president for research and innovation, highlighted how TBI embodies the spirit of research innovation at Stony Brook. “TBI represents the best of what collaborative science can be,” he said. “It brings together people from different disciplines, cultures, and countries, all focused on advancing knowledge that connects us as human beings. It’s a perfect example of how research can both honor the past and drive the future.”

Distinguished Service Professor and TBI Director Emeritus Lawrence Martin shared the institute’s origin story, one of “serendipity and partnership” between Leakey and then-Stony Brook President Shirley Strum Kenny.

“Richard first came to Stony Brook to receive an honorary degree,” Martin said. “Within 15 seconds of him walking on stage, every person in the stadium stood up. He had that kind of presence.”

Kenny, recognizing Leakey’s potential to shape the university’s global impact, offered him a faculty position in 2002, despite his own protests that he had “dropped out of high school.” Leakey ultimately accepted, and by 2005, his vision of creating a permanent base for field research in Kenya had become reality.

“I want to build a global center for excellence in human evolution in Kenya, but to serve the international scientific community,” Leakey told Martin at the time. Stony Brook embraced the challenge, and together they raised nearly $40 million to establish two major field stations, build research facilities in Nairobi, and launch an international network of collaborators.

Over the years, Martin said, “TBI has welcomed scientists from nearly 100 countries and 30 academic institutions. Every Stony Brook president since has recognized its importance, and I’m delighted that President Goldsmith is so committed to carrying this legacy forward.”

Among the highlights of the conference were presentations by TBI researchers who showcased the institute’s diverse portfolio of projects.

Previous TBI Director Dino Martins, an entomologist, evolutionary biologist and research professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, described how the institute’s work has expanded beyond paleoscience into new frontiers. Martins spoke about the Turkana Human Genome Project, a collaborative study examining how the Turkana people have genetically adapted to their extreme environment. “We designed this research hand-in-hand with the community,” he said. “They co-created the questions. Their insight deepened our science.”

This kind of mutual exchange, Martins noted, has become central to TBI’s mission. “Science is better when it’s shared,” he said. “When communities are partners — not subjects — our discoveries are richer, more ethical, and more human.”

Louise Leakey, TBI research professor and daughter of Richard and Meave Leakey, closed the conference with a reflection on her family’s legacy and the institute’s next chapter.

“If only my grandparents, Louis and Mary Leakey, could see what has grown from that first fossil discovery in Olduvai Gorge,” she said. “They put Africa on the map as the cradle of humankind, and today, TBI continues that story.”

Leakey traced the institute’s development from its beginnings (“a few shipping containers and tents in the desert”) to the sophisticated research hubs at Ileret and Turkwel that now host hundreds of scientists, students, and local collaborators each year.

She paid tribute to the countless people who helped make TBI a reality, from fieldworkers and builders in Kenya to longtime supporters in the U.S. and abroad. “TBI was built by teamwork,” she said. “From those who carried fossils and supplies across the desert to those who drew the blueprints on the back of a napkin, every contribution mattered.”

Leakey expressed optimism that the next generation of Kenyan scientists will lead TBI into its future. “The people of northern Kenya will be the experts and leaders in these scientific fields,” she said. “TBI will continue to provide opportunities for students and scientists from across Africa and beyond — exploring our shared story of humanity from the very place it began.”

— Beth Squire