For the past 16 years, Sonoma residents Linda Shore and David Barker have been quietly running one of the more unlikely education projects on the planet: teaching modern science inside Tibetan Buddhist monasteries scattered across northern India.
The couple, both longtime veterans of San Francisco’s Exploratorium, first traveled to India in 2009 and have returned roughly every other year since. They arrive with suitcases full of low-cost, Exploratorium-style tabletop exhibits that can be rebuilt from local materials, helping monks and nuns turn abstract concepts into hands-on lessons. Their work, part pedagogy and part traveling exhibition, supports monastics as they teach cosmology, perception, climate science and even quantum ideas in ways that match traditional learning styles.
As reported by the Sonoma Valley Sun, Shore and Barker have made about a dozen trips to India to run workshops and build teaching materials. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific notes that Shore, who earned an Ed.D. in science education and led the Exploratorium’s Teacher Institute for decades, later served as the ASP’s CEO, while Barker spent more than 30 years as a designer and art director at the Exploratorium.
Roots, Funders And A Dalai Lama Directive
The broader Science for Monks initiative traces its origin to a 1999 directive from the Dalai Lama to introduce modern science into monastic curricula, with early financial support from the Sager Family Foundation, according to the program’s own history. Over time, the work shifted from intensive multi-week workshops in the early 2000s into the Sager Science Leadership Institute, which trains cohorts of monastic science leaders to run classrooms and local science centers, per Science for Monks & Nuns and background notes on Bobby Sager’s site.
Program materials credit partnerships with Western university faculty, the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives and museum educators with helping to scale the work across India, Nepal and Bhutan.
Exhibitions That Bridge Traditions
The project’s hand-painted exhibitions, often created in traditional Tibetan thangka style with bilingual explanations, have toured widely and even appeared at San Francisco’s Exploratorium, as the San Francisco Chronicle reported in 2012. One of the best-known shows, “World of Your Senses,” pairs Buddhist perspectives on perception with Western demonstrations and was developed in collaboration with museum educators and local thangka artists.
Closer to home, Barker’s public art events and poster exhibits extend some of that visual storytelling into Sonoma. His work has been featured in local shows and coverage, including profiles in the San Francisco Chronicle and The Sonoma Index-Tribune.
Program Impact And Where It’s Headed
Organizers and Library of Tibetan Works & Archives materials report that the initiative now includes leadership training for nuns, along with a growing network of monastic science centers and long-distance learning programs that reach hundreds of monastics and lay learners. The effort marked a 25th-anniversary series of workshops and exhibitions in April 2025, with events and panels documented by the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives and the program’s own event notes.
Faculty and funders point to the Sager Science Leadership Institute, along with ongoing collaborations with Western partners, as the backbone of the expansion.
On The Ground In Sonoma
Back in Sonoma, Shore and Barker stay firmly plugged into the local arts and education scene. Barker’s posters and exhibition work have appeared at the Sonoma Valley Regional Library, while Shore continues to be recognized for her leadership in astronomy education.
The couple told local reporters they hope to eventually publish a coffee-table style record of the traveling exhibits and classroom activities so that the materials can reach a wider audience, as noted by the Sonoma Valley Sun and coverage of Barker’s art in The Sonoma Index-Tribune.
Supporters say the project shows how a mix of cultural exchange and hands-on inquiry can cross borders, strengthening both local classrooms in Sonoma and monastic education in the Himalayas.
