Sarah Jane Payne

Dr. Payne is a new faculty member in Civil Engineering and is currently developing a drinking water research program. She is fascinated by the intersection of environment, public health and engineering. Dr. Payne enjoys adapting molecular biological tools and employing analytical methods to explore unintended consequences and trade-offs of water quality management strategies. She is actively pursuing interdisciplinary collaboration opportunities. Her current research interests include understanding the interactions and interplay of water quality, disinfectants, pipe materials, inorganic particles, and the drinking water microbiome. She is interested in how upstream conditions (and changes) impact downstream materials and water quality. Dr. Payne is also interested in developing real-time sensors for water quality monitoring.

Prior to her arrival at Queen’s University, Dr. Payne worked as an engineer in the federal public service (2014-2019). She worked at both Environment and Climate Change Canada and Health Canada in various water, wastewater, and environmental policy and regulatory roles. 

Sarah Jane is a Co-director of the Drinking Water Quality Group, Co-applicant on the COVID-19 Wastewater Surveillance Initiative, the NFRF-Exploration and the Ontario Research Fund - Research Excellence.