diff --git a/src/cmake/thirdparty/SetupConduit.cmake b/src/cmake/thirdparty/SetupConduit.cmake
index 737d154d..d63a5f17 100644
--- a/src/cmake/thirdparty/SetupConduit.cmake
+++ b/src/cmake/thirdparty/SetupConduit.cmake
@@ -71,40 +71,58 @@ message(STATUS "CONDUIT_RELAY_WEBSERVER_ENABLED = ${CONDUIT_RELAY_WEBSERVER_ENAB
 
 
 if(ENABLE_PYTHON)
-    find_package(PythonInterp)
-    if(PYTHONINTERP_FOUND)
-        execute_process(COMMAND "${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE}" "-c"
-                                "import os; import conduit; print(os.path.split(conduit.__file__)[0]);"
-                        RESULT_VARIABLE _FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_RESULT
-                        OUTPUT_VARIABLE _FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_OUT
-                        ERROR_VARIABLE  _FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_ERROR_VALUE
-                        OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
-                      message(STATUS "PYTHON found!! ${CONDUIT_DIR}")
-        if(_FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_RESULT MATCHES 0)
-            message(STATUS "FOUND conduit python module at: ${_FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_OUT}")
-        else()
-            # try find the path to the conduit python module assuming a standard conduit install
+    set(CONDUIT_PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR)
+
+    # If conduit provides a python module directory, try to find the conduit C API header there
+    if (EXISTS "${CONDUIT_PYTHON_MODULE_DIR}/conduit/conduit_python.hpp")
+        set(CONDUIT_PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR ${CONDUIT_PYTHON_MODULE_DIR}/conduit)
+    endif ()
+
+    # Interegate the conduit python module to find its location if the CONDUIT_PYTHON_MODULE_DIR
+    # failed.
+    if (NOT CONDUIT_PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR)
+        find_package(PythonInterp)
+        if(PYTHONINTERP_FOUND)
             execute_process(COMMAND "${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE}" "-c"
-                                   "import sys; import os; sys.path.append(os.path.join('${CONDUIT_DIR}','python-modules'));  import conduit; print(os.path.split(conduit.__file__)[0]);"
-                                    RESULT_VARIABLE _FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_RESULT
-                                    OUTPUT_VARIABLE _FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_OUT
-                                    ERROR_VARIABLE  _FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_ERROR_VALUE
-                                    OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+                                    "import os; import conduit; print(os.path.split(conduit.__file__)[0]);"
+                            RESULT_VARIABLE _FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_RESULT
+                            OUTPUT_VARIABLE _FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_OUT
+                            ERROR_VARIABLE  _FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_ERROR_VALUE
+                            OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+                          message(STATUS "PYTHON found!! ${CONDUIT_DIR}")
             if(_FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_RESULT MATCHES 0)
-                # we will use this to make sure we can setup tests correctly
-                set(EXTRA_PYTHON_MODULE_DIRS "${CONDUIT_DIR}/python-modules/")
                 message(STATUS "FOUND conduit python module at: ${_FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_OUT}")
             else()
-                message(FATAL_ERROR
-                "conduit python import failure:\n${_FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_OUT}")
-
+                # try find the path to the conduit python module assuming a standard conduit install
+                execute_process(COMMAND "${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE}" "-c"
+                                       "import sys; import os; sys.path.append(os.path.join('${CONDUIT_DIR}','python-modules'));  import conduit; print(os.path.split(conduit.__file__)[0]);"
+                                        RESULT_VARIABLE _FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_RESULT
+                                        OUTPUT_VARIABLE _FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_OUT
+                                        ERROR_VARIABLE  _FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_ERROR_VALUE
+                                        OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+                if(_FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_RESULT MATCHES 0)
+                    # we will use this to make sure we can setup tests correctly
+                    set(EXTRA_PYTHON_MODULE_DIRS "${CONDUIT_DIR}/python-modules/")
+                    message(STATUS "FOUND conduit python module at: ${_FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_OUT}")
+                else()
+                    message(FATAL_ERROR
+                    "conduit python import failure:\n${_FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_OUT}")
+
+                endif()
             endif()
+        else()
+            message(FATAL_ERROR "PYTHON_FOUND = TRUE, but could not find a python interpreter.")
         endif()
-    else()
-        message(FATAL_ERROR "PYTHON_FOUND = TRUE, but could not find a python interpreter.")
-    endif()
 
-    set(CONDUIT_PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR ${_FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_OUT})
+        set(CONDUIT_PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR ${_FIND_CONDUIT_PYTHON_OUT})
+    endif ()
+
+    # Verify that the python header was found, if not abort
+    if (NOT EXISTS "${CONDUIT_PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR}/conduit_python.hpp")
+        message(FATAL_ERROR "Cannot find conduit_python.hpp")
+    endif ()
+
+    # Add the conduit_python.h path to the include list
     message(STATUS "FOUND conduit python include dir: ${CONDUIT_PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR}")
     list(APPEND CONDUIT_INCLUDE_DIRS ${CONDUIT_PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR})
 endif()