Jennifer Apell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Urban Engineering. She joined the Tandon faculty in Spring 2020. Her group uses a combination of laboratory experiments, field studies, and computer-based modeling to understand the environmental fate of organic pollutants. In laboratory studies, the mechanisms governing the transport, partitioning, and transformation of organic pollutants are studied. Field studies are used to collect actual environmental data and to investigate how these pollutants behave in complex environmental systems. These observations can be combined in computer-based models to determine the relative importance of the identified mechanisms and predict the fate of the organic pollutants in the environment and their removal in water treatment systems. The ultimate goal of this research is to protect ecosystem and human health.
Research Interests: Sustainability, measurement of organic pollutants in the natural environment, photodegradation of organic pollutants, bioaccumulation of pollutants in aquatic organisms such as fish, water and wastewater treatment systems that use ultraviolet light and advanced oxidation processes, developing models that can describe these processes
ETH Zurich (Switzerland) 2017 - 2019
Postdoctoral Researcher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2017
Ph.D., Environmental Chemistry
University of Florida 2009
Master of Engineering, Environmental Engineering
University of Florida 2008
Bachelor of Science, Environmental Engineering Sciences
10 most recent peer-reviewed publications:
- Apell, J.N., Pflug, N.C. and McNeill, K., 2019. Photodegradation of fludioxonil and other pyrroles: the importance of indirect photodegradation for understanding environmental fate and photoproduct formation. Environmental science & technology, 53(19), pp.11240-11250.
- Fairbrother, A., Muir, D., Solomon, K.R., Ankley, G.T., Rudd, M.A., Boxall, A.B., Apell, J.N., Armbrust, K.L., Blalock, B.J., Bowman, S.R. and Campbell, L.M., 2019. Toward sustainable environmental quality: priority research questions for North America. Environmental toxicology and chemistry, 38(8), pp.1606-1624.
- Apell, J.N. and McNeill, K., 2019. Updated and validated solar irradiance reference spectra for estimating environmental photodegradation rates. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, 21(3), pp.427-437.
- Lin, J., Apell, J.N., McNeill, K., Emberger, M., Ciraulo, V. and Gimeno, S., 2019. A streamlined workflow to study direct photodegradation kinetic and transformation products for persistence assessment of a fragrance ingredient in natural waters. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, 21(10), pp.1713-1721.
- Oziolor, E.M., Apell, J.N., Winfield, Z.C., Back, J.A., Usenko, S. and Matson, C.W., 2018. Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination in Galveston Bay, Texas: Comparing concentrations and profiles in sediments, passive samplers, and fish. Environmental Pollution, 236, pp.609-618.
- Apell, J.N., Shull, D.H., Hoyt, A.M. and Gschwend, P.M., 2018. Investigating the effect of bioirrigation on in situ porewater concentrations and fluxes of polychlorinated biphenyls using passive samplers. Environmental science & technology, 52(8), pp.4565-4573.
- Jonker, M.T., Van Der Heijden, S.A., Adelman, D., Apell, J.N., Burgess, R.M., Choi, Y., Fernandez, L.A., Flavetta, G.M., Ghosh, U., Gschwend, P.M. and Hale, S.E., 2018. Advancing the use of passive sampling in risk assessment and management of sediments contaminated with hydrophobic organic chemicals: Results of an international ex situ passive sampling interlaboratory comparison. Environmental science & technology, 52(6), pp.3574-3582.
- Sparer, E.H., Prendergast, D., Apell, J.N., Bartzak, M.R., Wagner, G.R., Adamkiewicz, G., Hart, J.E. and Sorensen, G., 2017. Assessment of ambient exposures firefighters encounter while at the fire station: an exploratory study. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine, 59(10), p.1017.
- Apell, J.N. and Gschwend, P.M., 2017. The atmosphere as a source/sink of polychlorinated biphenyls to/from the Lower Duwamish Waterway Superfund site. Environmental Pollution, 227, pp.263-270.
- Apell, J.N. and Gschwend, P.M., 2016. In situ passive sampling of sediments in the Lower Duwamish Waterway Superfund site: Replicability, comparison with ex situ measurements, and use of data. Environmental Pollution, 218, pp.95-101.
Research Centers, Labs, and Groups
The Apell Laboratory
