Before she joined NJIT, she was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of New Mexico, where she investigated the biogeochemical processes that affect the cycle of metals and radionuclides in the environment. Prior to that appointment, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Arizona in the Materials Science and Engineering Department, where she developed a novel technique, sonochemical degradation, using sound to break down fluorinated compounds found in fire-fighting foams. In her Ph.D. research, Lucia discovered the factors controlling arsenic microbial transformations in the environment, and the potential for mineralization of arsenic as a bioremediation technique.