Haynes joined the University of Minnesota in 2005 as an assistant professor.[8] She was promoted to full professor in 2014 and became the Elmore H. Northey Professor of Chemistry in 2015. Haynes has been the associate head of department of chemistry since 2015.[9] She became a Distinguished McKnight University Professor in 2019.[1]
In 2012, Haynes helped establish the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology, which researches the transformations and interactions of consumer or industrial nanomaterials in the environment.[10] Since 2012, Haynes has been the associate director of the Center for Sustainable Nanotechnology. As part of this effort, Haynes helps author the blog Sustainable Nano, where she has contributed posts on diversity in the sciences and science communication.[11]
In 2017 she delivered a TED talk, "Nanomaterials are everywhere; how do we make them safe?".[12][13] Haynes was named in The Analytical Scientist Power List in 2016, 2017, and 2019.[14] In 2017, 2018, and 2019, Haynes was named a finalist for the Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists.[15] In 2018, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, which enabled her to work in the Technical University of Valencia characterizing nanomaterials in an environmental matrix.[16][17] She delivered a second TED talk in 2022 entitled "How nanoparticles can help solve the global food crisis".[18]
Haynes is an advocate for increased diversity in the chemical sciences.[19] She takes part in outreach activities to encourage young people to consider careers in chemistry.[20] She is a lead presenter for the University of MinnesotaEnergy and U program, which brings over ten thousand third grade students to her campus each year.[17] Haynes is a member of the advisory board for Open Chemical Collaborative in Diversity Equity (OXIDE).[21]
Haynes is passionate about her role as a mentor and advisor to students—telling Northwestern University in an alumni spotlight in 2020,
"Professionally, my CV does not really reveal the great pride and honor I feel to work with the undergraduate and graduate students who join my laboratory or collaborate with my group. Each of those students has a story about how they arrived in chemistry, the challenges they’ve overcome, and the skills that they are currently working on to become even better. I love learning these stories and being a part of them."[22]
Haynes has been recognized for her mentoring and advising efforts. The University of Minnesota Graduate and Professional Student Assembly awarded her the Advising and Mentoring Award in 2015 and the University of Minnesota gave her the 2013 Outstanding Postdoctoral Mentor Award.[1]
Research
Her lab, the Haynes Research Group, applies analytical chemistry and nanomaterials to biomedicine, ecology and toxicology.[9] Nanoparticles are increasingly being used in manufacturing, which will result in them ending up in the ecosystem with unknown consequences.[23][24] The Haynes group look to determine the molecular design rules for nanoparticle toxicity, through material design and fabrication and characterization both in the lab and in the food web.[24][25][26] They characterize chemical messenger synthesis and exocytosis using laser spectroscopy and microelectrochemistry.[7] In 2012, her group was the first ever to successfully measure real-time chemical messenger delivery from individual blood platelets.[27][28] In 2013, her research was discussed on Minnesota Public Radio.[29]
Publications and journal contributions
As author
Haynes has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals.[30]
As editor
Since 2016, she has served as an associate editor of academic journal Analytical Chemistry, and in 2018 became the curator of feature articles and perspectives for the journal.[31] She was on the editorial board of Analytical Chemistry from 2013 to 2016 prior to becoming an editor. Haynes was the vice editor in chief of the journal Environmental Science: Nano from 2013 to 2015.[32] She currently sits on the editorial advisory boards of a number of academic journals, including Journal of Raman Spectroscopy since 2009,[33]Chemical Science since 2010,[34]The Analyst since 2010,[1]Chemical Research in Toxicology since 2013,[35]Environmental Science: Nano since 2016,[32]ACS Nano since 2020,[36] and Nanoscale and Nanoscale Advances since 2020[37]
^US 8592226, Van Duyne, Richard P.; Glucksberg, Mathew R. & Peltier, Karen E. et al., "Surface-enhanced Raman nanobiosensor", published 2013-11-26, assigned to Northwestern University
^US 9943826, Haynes, Christy Lynn; Egger, Samuel Michael & Datt, Ashish, "United States Patent: 9943826 – Porous silica having high pore volume and methods of making and using same", published 2018-04-17, assigned to The Regents of the University of Minnesota
