Program Duration

Spring Semester: Early January - Mid May

Program Description

Offered through the Ceiba Foundation for Tropical Conservation (Ceiba), this spring semester program in Ecuador is co-sponsored by UW-Madison. This semester program is an intensive, adventure-learning experience, providing in-depth training in the ecology and natural history of the tropics, practical experience in conservation and scientific research, and immersion in Latin American culture. This program is ideal for third and fourth year undergraduates in biological, environmental or social fields with an interest in international conservation.

During the program, participants hike through rough, broken, or very muddy terrain (sometimes under quite rainy or otherwise challenging conditions) to see some of the most remote and pristine ecosystems left on earth. Therefore, good physical condition and a sense of humor are essential.

Academics

Students take classes for the first month of the semester at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ), one of Ecuador’s most prestigious academic institutions. USFQ is a private university with a student body of about 2,700 undergraduates, and it is located in the beautiful Andes highlands just outside Quito. While at USFQ, students take intensive Spanish language classes as well as introductory classes on the ecology of Ecuador. The Spanish course helps students acquire the Spanish language skills that are necessary to communicate effectively during fieldwork projects and in internship placements. Students with over five previous semesters of Spanish may have the option of completing an independent project or research instead of the Spanish language course. All other courses are taught by ecologists with over thirty years of experience in the tropics.

Students spend over half of the semester at field sites studying ecology and conservation hands-on in some of the richest ecosystems on earth: the Galapagos, the Andes, and the Amazon. During the last month of the semester, students select one of several internship or research opportunities with an Ecuadorian conservation or development organization. Past internships have included reforestation, environmental education, sea turtle monitoring, organic farming, and primate research. Students must spend a minimum of twenty hours a week working on their internship. These internships allow students to apply knowledge and language skills obtained during coursework and provide them with first-hand experience in international sustainable development and conservation.

Housing

Students stay with an Ecuadorian host family while in Quito. While conducting field research, students stay at accommodations provided at the field research sites. The program fee includes all lodging, most meals, and travel to field sites within Ecuador.

Excursions and Activities

Students spend over half the semester traveling with faculty to a variety of field sites including three weeks in the Amazon rainforest and three weeks in the Galapagos. Participants also explore Ceiba conservation projects in the lush cloud forest of the El Pahuma Orchid Reserve and the unique coastal dry forest of the Lalo Loor Reserve.

The terrestrial ecology course culminates in a three-week stay at the Tiputini Biodiversity station, a remote but comfortable research station situated deep within pristine rainforest. The Station is situated right in the center of one of the world’s “diversity hotspots” and may in fact be the most biologically diverse place on the planet with over 560 species of birds, including the enormous and much sought-after Harpy Eagle. The area boasts ten species of monkeys, which are regularly seen on hikes through the forest. Jaguar and Ocelot sightings are not uncommon in the area, and course participants routinely observe pink river dolphins, capybara, peccaries, sloths, and other large mammals.

Marine biology study takes place in Ecuador’s Pacific coast and in the Galapagos Island archipelago where students spend eight days on a live-aboard cruise of the islands studying marine organisms and unique flora and fauna of the archipelago, and ten days at the G.A.I.A.S. research station on Isla San Cristobal.