The Center for Archaeological and Tropical Studies (CATS)—formerly the Mesoamerican Archaeological Research Laboratory (MARL)—is located within the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) at The University of Texas at Austin's J.J. Pickle Research Campus.

CATS is a part of the Department of Anthropology at The University of Texas at Austin.

A major initiative of CATS is the Programme for Belize Archaeological Project (PfBAP): a summer field school for students and non-student volunteers to research the ancient Maya civilization in the country of Belize in Central America, with permission of the Institute of Archaeology of the Government of Belize.