About Dr. Linda Lee

Linda Lee is a Distinguished Professor at Purdue University with a joint appointment in the Department of Agronomy in the College of Agriculture (COA) and Environmental & Ecological Engineering in the College of Engineering. With degrees in Chemistry, Environmental Engineering, and Soil Chemistry and Contaminant Hydrology from the University of Florida she joined Purdue in 1993 where she has established a strong research program in chemical fate in the environment, analytical tools, waste reuse, and contaminant management strategies. For over two decades, she has pioneered research on emerging “compounds of concern,” including hormones and pharmaceuticals, as well as a large infamous family of compounds called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS are now widely recognized for their potentially harmful human health or ecological health effects and their virtually infinite persistence in the natural world, thus garnering the name “forever chemicals.” In addition to her distinguished research record, Dr. Lee is a highly regarded environmental professional for her three decades of notable work in teaching, mentoring, and service.

Dr. Lee has garnered over 18 million dollars in funding from federal and state agencies including EPA, DOD, USDA, NSF, USGS, and WRF among others as well as industry. She has published over 150 publications with most being in top tier environmental journals, and served as primary mentor of over 40 graduate students to date. She has an energetic, innovative, stimulating program of research and teaching in environmental soil chemistry grounded in fundamental concepts of chemistry with direct application to known environmental problems.

Her research focuses on understanding the processes that govern environmental fate and remediation of contaminants in various media for use in mitigating contamination, decision tools and management guidelines in both industrial and agricultural settings. She has served on multiple national and international advisory groups addressing water quality issues, fair land-applied biosolid policies, and chemical risk prediction and management. Her research over the past 15 years has focused primarily on poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances and other organic endocrine disrupting chemicals of emerging concern. She developed and teaches Environmental Soil Chemistry lab/lecture (AGRY/NRES385, every fall) and Environmental Organic Chemistry (AGRY544, Spring, even year). She co-developed and leads the ESE fall and spring Colloquium course series.

Dr. Lee has two sons, enjoys ​animals, music, the outdoors and scuba diving, and is deep-rooted in Christ. (updated Feb. 16, 2024)​​