The Department of Geological Sciences is the main academic unit of the Jackson School. Founded in 1888, the Department is one of the oldest, largest, and most prestigious geoscience programs in the world. U.S. News & World Report ranks the Department’s graduate program in the top ten nationally for earth sciences, the only program in Texas with this distinction. The Department also has top ten specialty rankings in geology and geophysics/seismology.
With 58 faculty members, the Department is among the largest and most academically diverse in the world. The Department is home to one of the largest combined graduate and undergraduate enrollments – 687 – of any major geoscience program. We also have nearly 4,800 alumni.
Undergraduate Programs
Want to study the Earth? Find your future? Make a difference? We offer an unparalleled undergraduate experience featuring the benefits of a small college within a major university.
Read MoreGraduate Programs
This is an exciting time to pursue a graduate degree with the Department of Geological Sciences. It’s among the largest and most academically diverse programs in the world, with a strong emphasis on global field work.
Read MoreResearch & Education Programs
The Department of Geological Sciences seeks to answer some of the fundamental questions in earth science and address some of the most pressing issues of the 21st century for the benefit of society.
Department Research News
May 7, 2018
New Research Suggests that Dawn of Plate Tectonics Could Have Turned Earth into Snowball
A research duo from The University of Texas at Austin and UT Dallas have put forward a hypothesis that links the dawn of plate tectonics…
Read MoreDecember 13, 2017
Clarke Among Three UT Austin Scientists Named HHMI Professors for Innovation in Undergraduate Education
Three University of Texas at Austin professors have been chosen by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to join the ranks of a select group of…
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