[1] His works have been applied in earthquake engineering design of improved ground, building foundations, bridge abutments, lifeline, and environmental systems.

Kayen has authored over four hundred journal articles, conference papers, and published studies in the fields of earthquake engineering, LIDAR geomatics, InSAR persistent scatterer-synthetic aperture radar interferometry, engineering geophysics, methane hydrate disassociation, and marine-engineering geology and marine-geotechnics.

[2] Kayen received the Thomas A. Middlebrooks Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Robert Kayen is an American rock climber who completed the first solo ascent of El Capitan's West Buttress in Yosemite National Park in 1982.

The eleven-day solo ascent followed the original route on the West Buttress, first climbed by Layton Kor and Steve Roper.