Facilities on the main campus include wet and dry lab space, a wildlife rehabilitation "keep", dormitories, boat storage, and offices.

[3] UTMSI was established in 1941[4] and counts Gordon Gunter[5] and Howard T. Odum among its notable former directors.

Although the modern day fleet consists entirely of small watercraft, from 1971 - 2006 UTMSI operated an 80 ft research vessel, the R/V Longhorn.

[9][10] In 2017, a new site of the Long Term Ecological Research Network was founded with UTMSI scientists as principal investigators.

Areas of research include: UTMSI offers two graduate degrees in Marine Science, a thesis-based Master of Science (MS) degree and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).