Jean MacRae

Research Interests:

  • Microbial processes that affect pollutant and nutrient cycling (Biogeochemistry of nutrients and trace elements in water and soil)
  • Microbial Community Ecology (influence of environmental conditions on microbial communities and vice versa)
  • Sustainability issues in water, resource utilization and development (Resource and materials management. Energy extraction from and beneficial reuse of organic materials such as food waste, wastewater treatment residuals and agricultural wastes. Sustainable water and wastewater systems. Circularizing systems while reducing risks, especially from PFAS “forever chemical” contamination)

Research Projects:

Resources:

Degrees:

  • Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, University of British Columbia Vancouver, B.C., Canada, 1997
  • M.S. in Microbiology, University of British Columbia Vancouver, B.C., 1991
  • B.S. in Life Sciences, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 1988

Courses Taught:

  • CIE 331: Fundamentals of Environmental Engineering
  • CIE 434: Wastewater Process Design
  • CIE 439: Air Pollution and Solid Waste
  • CIE 534: Environmental Microbiology
  • CIE 537: Water Pollution

Profile:

Jean MacRae is an environmental microbiologist and environmental engineering faculty member in UMaine’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. In addition to teaching environmental engineering topics such as introductory environmental engineering, wastewater treatment, air pollution and solid waste management, she does research on biological remediation and the roles of microbes in nutrient (mostly nitrogen) and element (arsenic, uranium, iron and sulfur) cycling.

Current and recent projects include investigations into the risks associated with organics management in a fully circular material (or solid waste) system; uptake of PFAS into the food system from biosolids-contaminated soils; transformation of PFAS precursors in soils; fate of nutrients and PFAS in anaerobic digestion of contaminated manure.

Selected Publications:

2025
Scearce, A., Macrae, J., Goossen, C., Zhang, Y., Holt, K., & Schattman, R. (2025). Uptake of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) into lettuce (Lactuca sativa), tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum): A greenhouse experiment evaluating bioconcentration factors and testing the effect of intercropping. Environmental Advances, 20, 100629. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envadv.2025.100629

Scearce, A., Goossen, C., Schattman, R., Mallory, E., & Macrae, J. (2025). Erratum: “Linking drivers of plant per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) uptake to agricultural land management decisions” [Biointerphases, 18, 040801 (2023)]. Biointerphases, 20. https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0004421

2024
Macrae, J., Abbott, M., & Fufaa, G. (2024). Cancer incidence associations with drinking water arsenic levels and disinfection methods in Maine, USA. Journal of Water and Health, 22, 2246–2256. https://doi.org/10.2166/wh.2024.313

Costigan, E., Bouchard, D., Ishaq, S., & Macrae, J. (2024). Short-term effects of abrupt salinity changes on aquaculture biofilter performance and microbial communities. Water, 16, 2911. https://doi.org/10.3390/w16202911

Berry, B., Blackmer, T., Haedicke, M., Lee, S., Macrae, J., Miller, T., Nayak, B., Rivet-Préfontaine, L., Saber, D., Silka, L., Thakali, A., Wildwistle, J., Yoder, C., & Isenhour, C. (2024). Safe circular food systems: A transdisciplinary approach to identify emergent risks in food waste nutrient cycling. Foods, 13, 2374. https://doi.org/10.3390/foods13152374

Scearce, A., Macrae, J., Goossen, C., Zhang, Y., Holt, K., & Schattman, R. (2024). Uptake of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) into lettuce (Lactuca sativa), tall fescue (Schedonorus arundinaceus) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum): A greenhouse experiment testing the effect of intercropping. SSRN. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5002896

2023
Blackmer, T., Berry, B., Haedicke, M., Isenhour, C., Lee, S., Victor, E., Macrae, J., & Saber, D. (2023). The disposal mode of Maine’s waste governance. Maine Policy Review. https://doi.org/10.53558/OETH3597

Ghaznavi, S., Zimmerman, C., Shea, M., Macrae, J., Noblet, C., Apul, O., & Kopec, A. (2023). Management of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)-laden wastewater sludge in Maine: Perspectives on a wicked problem. Biointerphases, 18. https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0002796

Goossen, C., Schattman, R., & Macrae, J. (2023). Evidence of compost contamination with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from “compostable” food serviceware. Biointerphases, 18. https://doi.org/10.1116/6.0002746

Ishaq, S., Turner, S., Lee, G., Tudor, M. S., Macrae, J., Hamlin, H., & Bouchard, D. (2023). Water temperature and disease alters bacterial diversity and cultivability from American lobster (Homarus americanus) shells. iScience, 26, 106606. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.106606

2022
Ishaq, S., Turner, S., Lee, G., Tudor, M., Macrae, J., Hamlin, H., & Bouchard, D. (2022). Warmer water temperature and epizootic shell disease reduces diversity but increases cultivability of bacteria on the shells of American lobster (Homarus americanus). bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.11.11.512360

Costigan, E., Oehler, M., & Macrae, J. (2022). Phosphorus recovery from recirculating aquaculture systems: Adsorption kinetics and mechanism. Journal of Water Process Engineering, 49, 102992. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2022.102992

McAlexander, B., Apul, O., Olson, M., & Macrae, J. (2022). Estimated greenhouse gas emissions from PFAS treatment of Maine drinking water. Maine Policy Review, 31. https://doi.org/10.53558/PEFM6876

Ishaq, S., Wissel, E., Wolf, P., Grieneisen, L., Eggleston, E., Mhuireach, G., Friedman, M., Lichtenwalner, A., Machuca, J., Darling, K., Pearson, A., Wertheim, F., Johnson, A., Hodges, L., Young, S., Nielsen, C., Kozyrskyj, A., Macrae, J., Myers, E., & Hosler, S. (2022). Designing the Microbes and Social Equity Symposium: A novel interdisciplinary virtual research conference based on achieving group-directed outputs. Challenges, 13, 30. https://doi.org/10.3390/challe13020030

Berry, B., Isenhour, C., Macrae, J., Victor, E., Blackmer, T., Entwistle, J., Silka, L., Haedicke, M., Lee, S., & Saber, D. (2022). After the perfect storm: Learning from disruptions in Maine’s materials management system. Case Studies in the Environment, 6. https://doi.org/10.1525/cse.2022.1706963

Thakali, A., Macrae, J., Isenhour, C., & Blackmer, T. (2022). Composition and contamination of source-separated food waste from different sources and regulatory environments. Journal of Environmental Management, 314, 115043. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115043

Costigan, E., Collins, A., Hatinoglu, D., Bhagat, K., Macrae, J., Perreault, F., & Apul, O. (2022). Adsorption of organic pollutants by microplastics: Overview of a dissonant literature. Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances, 6, 100091. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hazadv.2022.100091

Isenhour, C., Haedicke, M., Berry, B., Macrae, J., Blackmer, T., & Horton, S. (2022). Toxicants, entanglement, and mitigation in New England’s emerging circular economy for food waste. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-021-00742-w

2021 and earlier
Ishaq, S., Hotopp, A., Silverbrand, S., Dumont, J., Michaud, A., Macrae, J., Stock, S. P., & Groden, E. (2021). Bacterial transfer from Pristionchus entomophagus nematodes to the invasive ant Myrmica rubra and the potential for colony mortality in coastal Maine. iScience, 24, 102663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102663

Patel, K., Tatariw, C., Macrae, J., Ohno, T., Nelson, S., & Fernandez, I. (2018). Soil C and N responses to snow removal and concrete frost in a northern coniferous forest. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 98. https://doi.org/10.1139/CJSS-2017-0132