Engaging with the Americas: Evolution, Conservation, and Sustainability in the Galápagos Islands

2026 Jhumki Basu Summer Institute on STEM Education

Hosted by the Center for Latin American Studies, Stanford University

July 21-28, 2026
Galápagos Islands, Ecuador

Application period opens: September 5, 2025
Application period closes: December 5, 2025 (11:59 p.m. Pacific Time)
Decision notifications will be sent in late January 2026.

The Jhumki Basu Foundation (JBF) and the Stanford University Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) are pleased to launch the Jhumki Basu Summer Institute on STEM Education. This special initiative invites community and junior college faculty, as well as high school science teachers leading upper-level courses (typically grades 11–12), with a priority focus on educators from under-resourced schools.

Drawing on CLAS’s impactful, community-centered summer educator programs and JBF’s mission to democratize and advance equitable science education, this unique institute will explore STEM themes through the lens of Latin America, highlighting topics such as biodiversity, evolution, and conservation—a tribute to Professor Jhumki Basu’s enduring scholarly passions.

The 2026 Basu Summer Institute will feature visits by chartered boat to five islands in the south and east of the Galápagos archipelago, as well as two days of pedagogical discussions at or near the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz Island. The program reflects the Jhumki Basu Foundation goals to advance STEM education with quality, equity, and belonging for students of all backgrounds and provides educators with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit pivotal sites and species that have shaped our understanding of ecology, conservation, ecosystems, genetics, biological evolution, adaptation, and sustainability. Because conservation is also a human social process, the institute also highlights social-ecological systems and related themes from the social sciences.

In addition to participating in daily lectures and discussions with Stanford Professor Emeritus Bill Durham, CLAS staff, and local naturalist guides, educators will take part in pedagogy and curriculum planning sessions where they will collaboratively translate their experiences into student-centered, democratic curricula adapted to their own classroom environments. Optional activities include snorkeling amid sea lions, marine iguanas, and Galápagos penguins, sitting face to face with giant tortoises and Darwin’s finches in their natural habitats, and learning the mating behaviors of blue-footed boobies, frigatebirds, and flightless cormorants.

William (Bill) Durham, Bing Professor in Human Biology, Emeritus, and Yang and Yamazaki University Fellow, Emeritus

Following his undergraduate studies at Stanford, Bill received his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan in 1977. Ever since, he has been jointly appointed on the faculty of Human Biology and Anthropology at Stanford.

Bill’s career has focused on two main themes: (1) putting principles of evolution to work in understanding and sustaining biological and cultural diversity in the world today; and (2) identifying the social dimensions of contemporary environmental problems and working with local people to help solve them. He has carried out field work in Peru, Brazil, and Ecuador (especially Galápagos) in South America, and in El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, and Costa Rica in Central America. An early recipient of the MacArthur Prize Fellowship, he has also received five awards for research and teaching at Stanford, including one by vote of the students.

Bill was invited to design the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, as well as the Center for Responsible Travel in Washington, D.C., where he served for a decade as co-founder and co-director. He served many years as editor of the Annual Review of Anthropology and as co-director of the Osa and Golfito Sustainability Initiative (INOGO) in Costa Rica for the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford. He is currently a governing member of the Charles Darwin Foundation of Galápagos and the U.S.-based NGO Friends of the Charles Darwin Foundation.

Bill’s most recent publication, Exuberant Life: An Evolutionary Approach to Conservation in Galápagos (2021), was awarded a 2022 PROSE Award Silver Medallion from the Association of American Publishers.

Bill’s favorite hobbies are photography, fossil collecting (which dates to childhood), and cooking.

Dates

July 21-28, 2026

Program activities will start in Guayaquil, Ecuador, early morning on June 21 and end in Guayaquil late evening on July 28.

Participants must arrive in Guayaquil no later than July 20 and depart from Guayaquil no earlier than July 29.

Location

Galápagos Islands, preceded by a day of group learning in Guayaquil, Ecuador

Eligibility

The Institute is designed for educators of natural and social science courses at the community/junior college and upper high school levels. Space is limited to 24 educators to ensure a personalized learning opportunity. A valid passport is required but no prior international travel experience is required.

Continuing Education Units

6 quarter units (60 hours of instruction) through Stanford Continuing Studies

Registration fee: $2,000*

• Applicants with financial aid need:
  • Educators from under-resourced schools with demonstrated financial need may apply for supplemental assistance. Funding is limited. See Financial Aid Request information below.
• Registration fees include:
  • Shared lodging (two per room) the nights of July 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28.
  • Breakfast and lunch on land days.
  • Breakfast, lunch, and dinner on boat days.
  • Ground, air, and water transportation associated with official program activities while in Ecuador. This includes a round-trip group flight from Guayaquil to the Galápagos Islands.
• Registration fees do not include:
  • Travel to and from the program start/end at the hotel in Guayaquil, Ecuador. This must be coordinated and paid by the participant.
  • Dinner on land days and incidental costs such as passport fees, travel medical insurance, immunizations†, etc.

* This highly subsidized price is made possible by generous funding from the Jhumki Basu Foundation.
† Participants are responsible for ensuring they have the appropriate immunizations for the destination.

Application Deadline

December 5, 2025 (11:59 p.m. Pacific Time)

Online Application

Applicants will need to create an account on the application portal. Applications do not need to be completed in one sitting; applications may be saved, updated, and edited at any time before the deadline.

• Applicant profile information
• Resume (upload)
• Statement of interest (upload)
  The statement of interest should address the following questions and should be no more than 2 pages double-spaced or 1 page single-spaced. Please use a standard font (11–12 pt) and standard margins (1 inch).
  • Why are you interested in participating in the 2026 Jhumki Basu Summer Institute in the Galápagos?
  • What interests you about student-centered or democratic approaches to teaching STEM? What do you hope to learn or explore during the Institute with regard to these approaches?
  • How do you envision this experience enhancing your teaching and benefiting your students, school, or district?
  • Pre-service applicants: What do you plan to do with your education degree or certification once completed? Please describe the type of teaching position you hope to pursue (e.g., subject, grade level) and the type of school or community where you hope to work.

Letters of Reference

Applicants are required to have two* (2) letters of reference. Each letter of reference must

• be written by someone in the position to evaluate the applicant, such as a principal, chair, advisor, or supervisor.
• address the applicant’s ability to integrate observations, data collected, and readings into lessons; develop curriculum materials; train other teachers in the school district or at workshops and conferences; contribute to the institute experience in regard to interpersonal and group-living skills; and engage with students at their home institutions.
• include letterhead and a signature.

Applicants will enter their recommenders' names and email addresses in the designated fields on the application form. The letter writers will subsequently receive an automated email with a unique link to upload their letter directly.

We strongly recommend that applicants begin their application early and enter their recommenders' information as soon as possible to ensure letter writers have ample time to submit by the deadline.

*STEM Ed Innovators are required to have one (1) letter of reference.

Financial Aid Request (if applicable)

We strive to make the Jhumki Basu Summer Institute accessible to educators from under-resourced schools and districts. Thanks to generous support from the Jhumki Basu Foundation, limited financial aid – ranging from $250 to a maximum of $1,000 per recipient – is available to offset program costs. Financial aid requests can be made in the designated optional section of the main application form. 

Financial aid requests will not affect an applicant's chances of being accepted to the institute. Financial aid requests are considered after institute application decisions are made.

Application Review

Applications will be reviewed by a selection committee appointed by CLAS.

Applicants may be contacted for an interview conducted over Zoom.

All qualified applicants will be considered in accordance with Stanford University's Nondiscrimination Policy.

Admitted participants will be expected to submit the following supplemental materials by March 1, 2026.

• Copy of valid passport (with expiration date more than 6 months after the institute dates) or confirmation that passport application has been submitted
• Signed Stanford Materials Release Form
• Signed Stanford International Travel Waiver
• Proof of international travel insurance. All participants in the institute are required to purchase international travel insurance equivalent to “Comprehensive” coverage as defined by insuremytrip.
• A non-refundable deposit of $400 (paid by credit card or check)

Registration fee balance of $1,600 is due April 1, 2026 (paid by credit card or check).

Payments being made by check should be made out to Stanford University and mailed to

Center for Latin American Studies
c/o Molly Aufdermauer, Public Engagement Coordinator
582 Alvarado Row
Stanford, CA 94305-8545

Applicant is responsible for confirming receipt of all application materials.

Participant Withdrawal Policy

If, for any reason, an accepted participant chooses to withdraw from the institute, the participant must notify the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) by email to clasoutreach [at] stanford.edu (clasoutreach[at]stanford[dot]edu). The program deposit is non-refundable. However, the participant may elect to use the cost of the deposit toward the fees of another CLAS teacher institute or workshop within a year. Program fees, exclusive of deposit, are refundable if CLAS receives the participant's written notification prior to the withdrawal deadline of May 1, 2026. If the participant withdraws from the institute after the withdrawal deadline, there are no refunds.

Institute Cancellation Policy

If the institute is canceled by CLAS for any reason, CLAS will be in touch with the participants directly regarding full refunds.

Molly Aufdermauer
Public Engagement Coordinator
Center for Latin American Studies
email: clasoutreach [at] stanford.edu (clasoutreach[at]stanford[dot]edu)
tel: 650-721-5530