The Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UTSA offers undergraduate and graduate students research opportunities in five principal areas: Geoinformatics, Geology and Geophysics, Paleoenvironment Reconstruction, Polar and Climate Sciences, and Water Cycle Science. The Department also encourages collaborations among different research groups, across campus, and with other institutions.

Department faculty, researchers, and students pursue field and laboratory studies of geological and environmental problems. The department's facilities include biogeochemistry, hydrogeology, isotope geochemistry, micropaleontology and stratigraphy, remote sensing/spatial analysis, river science, and sea ice studies.