Dr. Bryant's professional interests include palynology (the study of pollen grains) and paleoethnobotany (the study of how past cultures used plants). He is also the Director of the Texas A&M Palynology Laboratory and the Paleoethnobotany Laboratory.

Dr. Bryant has an active research program that includes the reconstruction of past environments, pollen studies from underwater shipwrecks, searches for the origins of agriculture, the reconstruction of prehistoric diets, and studies of the cultural uses of plants from pollen evidence recovered in the soils in archaeological sites.

Most graduate students working under his direction conduct research focused around data recovered from the collection of pollen, phytoliths (plant crystals), seeds, fibers, and wood from terrestrial and underwater sites.

Graduate students from other departments work with Dr. Bryant in research areas that include

• forensics (pollen found at crime scenes),
• melissopalynology (pollen in honey),
• entomopalynology (insects and pollen), and
• studies of fossil pollen recovered from Tertiary sediments.

Dr. Bryant teaches courses in a number of undergraduate and graduate fields, and he is listed in the Community of Science Expertise Directory.