Rate My Professor Rob Payn

In teaching, Payn delivers advanced courses in watershed hydrology and fundamentals of environmental monitoring, earning the Montana State University College of Agriculture Award of Excellence in Transformative Teaching in 2025. This recognition highlights his engaging pedagogy, meticulous attention to complex topics, insightful feedback, and commitment to undergraduate and graduate mentoring, with students praising his organized, thorough instruction. Payn's scholarly output includes key publications such as Shangguan et al., 'Freshwater carbonate buffering revisited' (Limnology and Oceanography Letters, 2025); Mayernik et al., 'Riparian Processes in Semi-Arid Landscapes: Understanding controls on Nitrate Loss and Sulfate Production in Agricultural Stream Corridors' (Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 2025); Keeshin et al., 'Factors influencing water quality in surface water and alluvial groundwaters downgradient of a reclaimed surface coal mine' (Hydrogeology Journal, 2025); Shangguan et al., 'Divergent metabolism estimates from dissolved oxygen and inorganic carbon: implications for river carbon cycling' (Limnology and Oceanography, 2024); and Bobst et al., 'Groundwater-Mediated Influences of Beaver-Mimicry Stream Restoration: A Modeling Analysis' (Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 2022). He serves on the Editorial Review Board of Freshwater Science since November 2017 and advises graduate students in the Ph.D. program in Ecology and Environmental Sciences.