FLBS Stream Ecology Professor Bob Hall Named Fellow of the Society for Freshwater Science

The Society for Freshwater Science (SFS) just announced that Bob Hall, distinguished professor of stream ecology at the University of Montana’s Flathead Lake Biological Station (FLBS), has been named a Fellow of the Society for Freshwater Science.

The Society for Freshwater Science is a premier international organization of aquatic scientists. SFS Fellows are leaders in their disciplines who have dedicated substantial time and resources to benefit the field of freshwater science and the Society. With his selection, Hall joins previous Society for Freshwater Science Fellows FLBS professor emeritus Ric Hauer and former FLBS director and professor emeritus Jack Stanford.

“Fellows of the Society for Freshwater Science are selected based on their sustained excellence and contributions to research, policy, and or management of freshwaters," said Dr. Sherri Johnson, President of SFS. "We welcome Dr. Hall and the 2024 Fellows for the depth and breadth of their outstanding leadership and research into freshwater ecosystems and nutrient dynamics."

Hall joined FLBS in 2017. Prior to that he was on the faculty at University of Wyoming, where he started in 1998. Since graduate school at University of Georgia, he has been interested in stream carbon and nitrogen cycling and food webs, but with a career trajectory of studying ever larger rivers. Hall’s current work links geomorphology to stream metabolism and nitrogen cycling, time-series analyses of river metabolism, food webs, isotope tracers, statistical modeling, and dissolved organic and inorganic carbon dynamics in rivers. He is a lead researcher at FLBS’s renowned long-term river research site, the Nyack floodplain of the Middle Fork Flathead River.

Alongside his excellence in research and substantial contributions to freshwater science, colleagues cite Hall’s collaborative spirit and widespread generosity in mentorship, and credit these for his influence in fostering the next generation of freshwater scientists.

His teaching portfolio includes a field-based summer course on stream ecology taught on the Middle Fork Flathead, and a graduate course on ecological models and data. Additionally, Hall trains young scientists, serving as a supervisor of summer interns at FLBS and advising PhD and Masters student through the Ecology and Evolution program at UM, where he is currently the program’s director.

“All of us here at FLBS consider Bob to be one of the smartest, most insightful and productive minds in the field of aquatic ecology,” said FLBS director Jim Elser. “We also know that he is a wonderful person, selfless and generous. Selection as an SFS Fellow shows that his colleagues around the world feel the same way, and we are grateful to have him on our team at Yellow Bay.”

The SFS Fellows will officially welcome Hall into their ranks at the Society’s 2024 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia in June. For more information on SFS and the SFS Fellows program, visit http://freshwater-science.org/awards-programs/fellows