Job description
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a Carnegie R1, Opportunity, and Community-Engaged university at the heart of the U.S.-Mexico border region that is increasing access to excellent higher education. We advance discovery of public value and positively impact the health, culture, education, and economy of the community we serve. UTEP enrolls more than 26,000 students, 84% of whom are Hispanic and half of whom are the first in their families to attend college. UTEP offers 169 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs at the only open-access, top-tier research university in America.
The city’s location on the Rio Grande in the Southwest where two countries and three states meet makes it an ideal venue for academic programs and research studies on topics of national interest, including bilingual education/language acquisition, health and health disparities, international relations, international trade, migration, and environmental sustainability and infrastructure. The University enjoys strategic partnerships with two Department of Energy national laboratories in the region, multiple national laboratories beyond the region, and sits on the edge of White Sands Missile Range, making engineering and scientific research both a priority and an opportunity.
Along with its designation among the top 5% of universities in America for research, UTEP is also nationally recognized as an Opportunity University by the Carnegie Classification for its positive impact on economic mobility for students after graduation. In 2024, Forbes found that UTEP students graduate with the lowest average debt of any college or university in Texas.
Located at the westernmost tip of Texas, El Paso is set against the backdrop of the Franklin Mountains and the Chihuahuan Desert in one of the largest binational communities in the world. The city’s active arts and culture community features the state’s longest-running symphony orchestra, a nationally recognized chamber music festival, a vibrant street art and mural scene, art galleries, museums, and a full schedule of seasonal events and festivals. In 2024, El Paso opened La Nube, a unique hybrid institution that merges the educational aspects of a science center with the interactive experiences of a children’s museum. UTEP adds to the arts and entertainment scene with concerts and live events at the city’s largest indoor and outdoor venues; theater, music and dance productions; contemporary and student art galleries; and a natural history museum and desert gardens. El Paso residents can also easily travel to the sister city of Ciudad Jurez, Mexico, to enjoy great food, markets and cultural events.
El Paso/Jurez is the fifth largest manufacturing region in North America and the center of commerce, education and health services for the region. A family-oriented community, the cost of living in El Paso is very reasonable for a large metropolitan area with the average home value of $224,000 in 2025. In 2026, U.S. News and World report named El Paso the best big city to live in the nation. Texas has no state income tax and, when it comes to public safety, El Paso is consistently ranked among the safest large cities in the United States.
El Paso is also an ideal location for people who love the outdoors. It is home to one of the nation’s largest urban parks – Franklin Mountains State Park – and many options for year-round hiking, mountain biking and rock climbing at Hueco Tanks State Park and nearby White Sands, Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns national parks.
For sports fans, the UTEP Miners offer exciting Division I college athletics at several campus venues including Sun Bowl Stadium – where one of the oldest football bowl games takes place annually – and the Don Haskins Center arena. Southwest University Park, located a mile away in lively downtown El Paso, is home to the El Paso Chihuahuas, the Triple-A baseball affiliate of the San Diego Padres, and the El Paso Locomotive FC, a professional soccer team founded in 2019.
Job Description:
The Department of Earth, Environmental, and Resource Sciences at UTEP is a vibrant group of 20 faculty representing a wide variety of geology, geophysics, hydrology, environmental science, and geography expertise. The degrees the Department offers include the B.S., M.S., and Ph. D. in Geological Sciences, the B.S. and M.S. in Environmental Science, the M.S. in Geophysics, and a minor in Geography. Our Ph. D. in Geological Sciences includes students with interests in any of these subdisciplines. We also support student training in cross-campus interdisciplinary Ph. D. programs including the Environmental Science and Engineering, Computational Science, and Data Science Ph. D. programs and collaborate frequently with the new Mining Engineering program and the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering program of the College of Engineering. The Department research portfolio addresses local to global challenges in the environmental and natural resources fields while taking advantage of our regional geographic setting for research and education. Our integrative and collaborative efforts have resulted in research expenditures of $2.5M per year. The department has a long history in the study of earth and mineral resources and considers professional and entrepreneurial geoscience a research theme (https://www.utep.edu/science/geology/research-themes/professional-geoscience.html).
The Department of Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences occupies an attractive, 90,000-sq. ft. building containing offices, laboratories, and classrooms. We have mineral separation equipment, a multi-collector ICP-MS, laser ablation ICP-MS, an IRMS, variable-pressure SEM-EDS, scanning micro-XRF and bench-top XRD systems, and a Malvern particle size analyzer. The Department has a research computing lab with high-end workstations. Geophysical research infrastructure includes multiple surface and downhole geophysical tools and extensive computational and software resources. More information about the activities and facilities in the Department can be found at https://www.utep.edu/science/geology/. In addition, the collaborative research environment at UTEP affords access to a variety of analytical equipment in the Departments of Metallurgy and Materials Science, Chemistry, and Biological Sciences and the Nanomaterials Integration Lab. Interactions with the Center for Environmental Resource Management and other multidisciplinary research centers are encouraged. A new building dedicated to interdisciplinary research was completed in 2020.
The Department of Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Subsurface Geology, beginning August 2027. We are seeking highly collaborative applicants with expertise in the exploration, production, or storage of subsurface resources such as geothermal fluids, groundwater/brine, minerals, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen. Specific areas of expertise may include but not limit to subsurface characterization of rock properties (such as porosity, permeability, fracture distribution, reactivity and geometry), geologic modeling/reservoir simulation, fluid-rock interactions, fluid injection and extraction in porous and permeable rock formations. Applicants should enhance the core strengths of our department in areas such as geophysics, geochemistry, human-environment interactions, economic geology, land use/land cover change, hydrology, field geology, tectonics, and planetary science. Candidates are encouraged to develop contacts and partnerships with industry and organizations involved in the energy transition and mineral resource development. The successful candidate will be expected to attract research funding from external sources. Teaching may include an introductory course in Earth Science or Environmental Science and upper division and/or graduate classes in topics of their choice agreed upon with the Department Chair. In addition to advising M.S. and Ph. D. students from the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Resource Sciences, the selected candidate will have the opportunity to participate in the interdisciplinary Environmental Science undergraduate and doctoral programs and the new undergraduate program in Mining Engineering (starting fall 2027).
Requirements:
The Department of Earth, Environmental and Resource Sciences is hiring a faculty member in the broadly-defined area of subsurface geology who is capable of teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels, conducting and establishing an extramurally funded and active research portfolio, publishing in peer-reviewed journals, and mentoring students at all levels. A Ph. D. in Geological Sciences or a closely related field at the time of appointment is required.
Preferred Qualifiactions:
Candidates will have postdoctoral research experience, track record of peer-reviewed publications, previously secured research funding, collaborations and/or experience working with industry, and teaching experience is desirable.
Additional Information:
In keeping with its access, excellence, and impact mission, The University of Texas at El Paso is committed to an open, diverse, and inclusive learning and working environment that honors the talents, respects the differences, and nurtures the growth and development of all. We seek to attract faculty and staff who share our commitment.
The University of Texas at El Paso is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or sexual orientation and gender in employment or the provision of services in accordance with state and federal law. Discrimination on the basis of sex includes an employee’s or prospective employee’s right to be free from sexual harassment under Title IX of the Higher Education Amendments of 1972. Inquiries-including the filing of a Formal Complaint or reporting an incident-about the application of Title IX may be referred to the Title IX Coordinator, who can be reached by phone at (915) 747-8358, by email at [email protected], or by mail at 500 W. University Ave., El Paso, TX, Kelly Hall, Room 312.
For accommodation information for employees and applicants with disabilities, please contact UTEP’s Equal Opportunity Office at [email protected].
To the extent that this position involves research, work, or access to critical infrastructure as referenced in Executive Order GA-48, being hired for and continuing to be employed in this position requires the ability to maintain the security or integrity of the infrastructure.
How to apply
Review of applications will begin on November 15, 2026 and applications will continue to be reviewed until the position is filled. Applications must submit the following: 1) cover letter of interest; 2) curriculum vitae; 3) statement of research interests; 4) statement of teaching philosophy and interests; 5) description of how the applicant would enhance broader impacts in the geosciences and our communities; and 6) complete contact information for at least three references.
Questions should be directed to Chair of the Search Committee Dr. Lin Ma at [email protected] or (915) 747-5218.
