Lisa Axe

Chair, Newark College of Engineering
About Me
Lisa Axe is a Professor and Chair in the Otto H. York Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering at NJIT. She has a joint appointment with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at NJIT. Dr. Axe’s research is in chemical and physical processes in environmental systems. Her group works with natural and engineered processes. Much of her group’s efforts have been in understanding interfacial processes and their impact on contaminant attenuation. Her group uses a suite of complementary analyses to study surface chemistry and contaminant behavior. Recent projects have included advancing biologically active filters in water treatment to address emerging contaminants being detected in source water. Additionally, her group has been studying reactive iron mineral coatings in contaminated subsurface environments using core samples preserved for redox integrity. Dr. Axe has been funded by Chemours, National Science Foundation, SUEZ North America, U.S. Army, NJ Department of Transportation, and NY State Department of Transportation. She was a recipient of the DuPont Young Professor Grant. She serves on the Chemours Science Advisory Board for the Chambers Works Site as well as a NJDEP Science Advisory Board. Dr. Axe has published over 60 peer reviewed publications.
Education
MChE; Illinois Institute of Technology; Chemical Engineering; 1995
Ph.D.; Illinois Institute of Technology; Environmental Engineering; 1995
M.S.; Illinois Institute of Technology; Environmental Engineering; 1992
B.S.; Purdue University-Main Campus; Geoscience; 1984
2026 Fall Courses
CE 726 - INDEPENDENT STUDY II
CE 727 - INDEPENDENT RESEARCH III
CHE 101 - INTRO TO CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
CHE 491 - RESEARCH & INDEP STUDY
CHE 790A - DOCT DISSERTATION & RES
MTEN 492 - RESRCH AND INDPENDENT STUDY II
CE 491 - RESEARCH EXPER-CIVIL ENGR
CE 490 - CIVIL ENGR PROJECTS
CE 790A - DOCT DISSERTATION & RES
CHE 701B - MASTERS THESIS
MTEN 700B - MASTER'S PROJECT
CHE 492 - RESEARCH & INDEP STUDY
MTEN 701B - MASTERS THESIS
CHE 706 - INDEPENDENT STUDY II
MTEN 725 - INDEPENDENT STUDY I
MTEN 792 - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH
MTEN 726 - INDEPENDENT STUDY II
CE 701C - MASTER'S THESIS
CE 725 - INDEPENDENT STUDY I
CHE 792 - PRE-DOCTORAL RESEARCH
MTEN 491 - RESEARCH & INDEPENDENT STUDY I
CE 700B - MASTERS PROJECT
CE 792 - PRE-DOCTORAL DISSERTATION
CHE 700B - MASTERS PROJECT
CHE 705 - INDEPENDENT STUDY I
ENE 700B - MASTER'S PROJECT
MTEN 790A - DOCT DISSERTATION & RES
Teaching Interests
To improve student engagement through faculty student interactions; relevant applications in courses; in class and out of class academic experiences such as cooperative education, research experiences, participation in service learning, and professional societies; and, student group learning both in and out of class.
Past Courses
CHE 101: INTRO TO CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
CHE 101: INTRODUCTION TO CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
CHE 210: CHEMCL PROC CALCULATIONS I
CHE 240: CHEMICAL PROCESS CALCULATIONII
CHE 370: HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER
ENE 262: INTRO TO ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER
ENE 262: INTRO TO ENVIRONMENTAL ENGR
ENE 360: WATER & WASTEWATER ENGINEERING
ENE 620: ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMODYNAMICS
ENE 663: WATER CHEMISTRY
Research Interests
Her research is in chemical and physical processes in environmental systems. Much of her group’s efforts are in understanding interfacial processes and their impact on water quality and contaminant mobility and bioavailability. Dr. Axe has been funded by the Chemours, SUEZ, National Science Foundation, U.S. Army, NJ Department of Transportation, NY State DOT, and she was a recipient of the DuPont Young Professor Grant.
Conference Proceeding
"Emerging Frontiers in Environmental Chemical Engineering"
.
"Abiotic Degradation of Chlorinated Solvents with Reactive Iron Minerals from Redox Transition Zones"
2022.
"Abiotic Degradation with Reactive Iron Mineral Coatings in Anaerobic Sediment"
2019.
"Biologically Active Filters: A Sustainable Treatment Process for Emerging Contaminants"
2017.
"Identifying redox transition zones in the subsurface"
2017.
"Biologically active filters: An advanced treatment process for removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products"
2016.
Journal Article
Lisa B. Axe, Judith Redling, Priscilla Nelson, David J. Lubliner, NM Ravindra, Denis L. Blackmore. "Extended Abstract--Improving Student Engagement in Engineering." .
P Trivedi, Lisa B. Axe, others. "Hydrous Metal Oxides Pages 2218 and 2221. The authors found an error in the reporting of the activation energy (Ea) for cadmium sorption to hydrous ferric oxide (HFO). The following was presented for." .
Ying Xu, Lisa B. Axe, Nathan Yee, James A Dyer. "Supporting Information “Bidentate Complexation Modeling of Heavy Metal Adsorption and Competition on Goethite”." .
Tanvir Ahamed, Kathy Hale, Andrea Castro, Oleg Kostin, Mengyan Li, Lisa B. Axe. 2026. "Multicriteria analysis of water quality models for simulating Cryptosporidium oocysts at the watershed scale." Science of The Total Environment, vol. 1031, pp. 181804.
Chao Li, Liang Zhu, Lisa B. Axe, Mengyan Li. 2025. "Acclimation of sludge-derived biofilms for effective removal of emerging contaminants: impacts of inoculum source and carbon supplementation." Journal of Hazardous Materials, vol. 492, pp. 138235.
Tanvir Ahamed, Chao Li, Mengyan Li, Lisa B. Axe. 2025. "Interactions of graphene oxide with the microbial community of biologically active filters from a water treatment plant (vol 263, 122155, 2024)." WATER RESEARCH, vol. 268.
Other
"Indicator compounds representative of contaminants of emerging concern (Cecs) found in the water cycle in the United States"
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, February, 2021.
"Development and application of computer simulation tools for ecological risk assessment"
Environmental Modeling and Assessment, December, 2003.
"Encyclopedia of surface and colloid science"
CRC press, 2002.
"Intraparticle surface diffusion of metal contaminants and their attenuation in microporous amorphous Al, Fe, and Mn oxides"
Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, January (1st Quarter/Winter), 2002.
"Strontium and cadmium diffusion and reaction within iron oxides"
Illinois Institute of Technology, 1995.
"An assessment of the stability of particulate matter from the Des Plaines River"
Illinois Institute of Technology, 1992.
Chapter
Lisa B. Axe, Paras Trivedi, Paul Anderson. "Oxides and Related Surfaces: Diffusion." "Encyclopedia of Surface and Colloid Science," pp. 5214--5224. CRC Press, 2015.
Peter K Ndiba, Lisa B. Axe. "Metal speciation in phosphate and thermal stabilization of contaminated dredged sediments." "Contemporary topics in ground modification, problem soils, and geo-support," pp. 512--519. 2009.
Paras Trivedi, Lisa B. Axe. "Long-term fate of metal contaminants in soils and sediments: role of intraparticle diffusion in hydrous metal oxides." "Natural attenuation of trace element availability in soils," pp. 57--71. CRC Press, 2006.
Paras Trivedi, Lisa B. Axe. "Long-term fate of metal contaminants in soils and sediments: Role of intraparticle diffusion in hydrous metal oxides." "Natural Attenuation of Trace Element Availability in Soils," pp. 57-71. 2006.
Lisa B. Axe, Paul R Anderson. "Intraparticle diffusion of metal contaminants in amorphous oxide minerals." "Adsorption of metals by geomedia," pp. 193--208. Academic press, 1998.
Technical Report
"Heavy Metal Contamination in Highway Marking Glass Beads"
2011.
"Experimental and theoretical diffusivities of CD and SR in HFO"
American Chemical Society, Washington, DC (United States), 1996.
"Inorganic contaminant diffusion and reaction within Fe oxides: Evaluation of the rate limiting process for leaching in subsurface environments"
American Chemical Society, Washington, DC (United States), 1995.