The Institute has facilities with support staff both in the Earth & Marine Sciences Building on the UCSC Main Campus and at the off-site Coastal Science Campus, located on the coastline ten minutes from Main Campus. The Institute is comprised of non-senate academic IMS researchers, along with affiliated marine Faculty scientists from the departments of Ocean Sciences, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology, Chemistry and Biochemistry and Environmental Studies, whose research efforts align with one of the eight IMS research cluster groups.