PSARC conducts research and education to enhance our ability to predict and identify the possibility of life elsewhere in the solar system. PSARC also focuses on the evolution of the Earth's biosphere over the first 4 billion years of Earth history.

BRIE trains students in the interdisciplinary science of biogeochemistry and arms them with state-of-the-art analytical skills. BRIE is specifically designed to bridge different scientific disciplines in an effort to promote cross-disciplinary research projects.

CEKA is an initiative to catalyze a deeper understanding of molecular issues related to environmental chemical kinetics, especially as related to geochemical cycling of elements, fate and transport of contaminants, and carbon sequestration within the critical zone.

The Center for Geomechanics, Geofluids, and Geohazards (G3) crosses
departmental boundaries and integrates current activities in rock and fluid
physics. Earthquake nucleation and recurrence, the triggering and timing of
volcanic eruptions, the dynamics of ice sheets, the fate and transport of
contaminants in groundwater, and the generation of submarine landslides are
all influenced by the interaction of rocks and fluids.

EESI brings together scientists from various disciplines to search for links between the Earth's physical processes and past and future global changes. The center coordinates and conducts extensive research related to the global water cycle, biogeochemical cycles, Earth system history, and human impacts on the Earth System.

The Geosystems Initiative provides a forum for studying fundamental research problems that lie at the interface between classical geoscience programs and petroleum engineering.

AfricaArray is a long-term (20 years) initiative to promote, in the full spirit of NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa's Development), coupled training and research programs for building and maintaining a scientific workforce for Africa’s natural resource sector. Africa’s natural resource sector (petroleum, minerals, and water, in particular) is a major driving force for economic development.