Departmental Unit № 1
Department of Geography and the Environment
PhD in Geography
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (5 Years)
Funding Package: Full tuition waiver + 9-to-12 month living stipend (~$25,000–$32,000/yr) + UT student health insurance guaranteed through TA/GRA appointments.
Fall Priority Deadline: December 15
GRE Policy: Not required / Waived
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 79 or IELTS 6.5
MA in Geography (Funded Thesis Track)
100% Full Funding on Thesis Track!
Funding Reality: UT Austin Geography offers full tuition waivers and TA/GRA stipends to admitted MA thesis students! Outstanding target for a fully-funded Master's.
Application Deadline: December 15
Admissions Advisory: If full funding is required and MS is self-funded, students are strongly advised to apply directly to the PhD track.
Vetted Matched Scholars (1 Profiles)
Prof. Kelley A. Crews
Professor of Geography and the Environment
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
She tracks how farming, droughts, and climate change alter dryland forests and water bodies from space, training computers to spot land degradation before fertile soil turns to desert.
Core Research Topics: Geographic Information Science (GIScience), satellite remote sensing, land-use/land-cover change (LULC), savanna ecohydrology, spatial environmental geography.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Investigates how climate change and human land management alter vegetation water stress, dryland riparian zones, and land degradation across sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas using multi-temporal satellite imagery.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Multi-spectral and hyperspectral remote sensing (Landsat, Sentinel), Google Earth Engine, spatial statistics, GIS spatial modeling.
Recruiting Context: Direct head in Geographic Information Science. Direct match for a BSc in Geography and Environmental Science.
Candidate Match:
Remote SensingGISGeographyEnvironmental Science
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Connecting your BSc in Geography & Environmental Science and satellite image processing skills with her remote sensing of land-use change and ecohydrological systems."
Departmental Unit № 2
Jackson School of Geosciences
PhD in Geological Sciences (Hydrology / Environmental Geosciences)
100% Full Funding Guaranteed (Highest Public Endowed)
Funding Package: One of the wealthiest geosciences schools in the world! Guaranteed full tuition + 12-month stipend (~$38,000–$42,000/yr) + health insurance for all admitted graduate students.
Fall Priority Deadline: December 1
GRE Policy: Not required
English Minimums: TOEFL iBT 79 or IELTS 6.5
MS in Geological Sciences (Thesis Track)
100% Full Funding on Thesis Track!
Funding Reality: The Jackson School guarantees 100% full funding (tuition waiver + stipend) for all admitted MS thesis students as well as PhD students!
Application Deadline: December 1
Admissions Advisory: If full funding is required and MS is self-funded, students are strongly advised to apply directly to the PhD track.
Vetted Matched Scholars (2 Profiles)
Prof. Daniella Rempe
Associate Professor of Geological Sciences
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
She discovered that deep cracked bedrock beneath soils acts like a secret underground water sponge, storing massive amounts of water that tree roots drink during severe heatwaves and droughts.
Core Research Topics: Bedrock hydrogeology, 'rock moisture' water storage, tree water uptake from weathered bedrock, drought hydrology, critical zone hydrogeophysics.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Winner of the NSF CAREER Award. Made world-famous discoveries showing that deep weathered bedrock holds massive underground water reserves ('rock moisture') that sustain global forests during severe multi-year droughts.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) borehole hydrogeophysics, deep neutron probes, hydrologic subsurface modeling, GIS spatial watershed analysis.
Recruiting Context: Well-funded NSF CAREER group. Exceptional opportunity in hydrogeology.
Candidate Match:
HydrologyGeoscienceWater ResourcesGIS
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Discussing her groundbreaking research on rock moisture dynamics and borehole hydrogeophysics, presenting your hydrological and GIS coursework."
Prof. Jay L. Banner
F. M. Bullard Professor in Geological Sciences; Director, Environmental Science Institute
In Plain Terms · What This Scholar Does:
He crawls into underground limestone caves to sample dripping cave water, testing how expanding cities and highways pollute pristine underground drinking water springs.
Core Research Topics: Karst hydrogeology, cave hydrology, urban water quality, isotopic geochemistry of water resources, groundwater contamination.
Recent 2024–2026 Works & Grants: Director of the Environmental Science Institute at UT Austin. Investigates how rapid urban sprawl alters groundwater recharge and washes toxic roadway pollutants into fragile karst limestone aquifers supplying municipal drinking water.
Laboratory Instruments & Methods: Thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS), isotope ratio mass spectrometry, cave dataloggers, wet-lab geochemical water testing.
Recruiting Context: Director of the Environmental Science Institute with extensive state and federal research support.
Candidate Match:
HydrologyEnvironmental PollutionLab Water TestingWater Quality
Tailored Cold-Email Opening Hook:
"Highlighting your wet-lab water pollutant testing and chemistry background, referencing his karst hydrogeology and urban aquifer contamination research."