Professor Haynes studies the large scale distribution of galaxies in the local universe and especially how local environment influences galaxy formation and evolution. She is current co-lead of the ALFALFA survey, using the multi-beam ALFA receiver on the 305-meter Arecibo telescope. ALFALFA aims to conduct a complete census of gas-bearing galaxies over a cosmologically significant volume. ALFALFA promises a wealthy dataset for the exploration of many issues in near-field cosmology and galaxy evolution studies, setting the stage for their extension to higher redshifts someday with the Square Kilometre Array.

Studying the nature and characteristics of the nearby galaxy populations requires the acquisition of observational data with a variety of telescopes and instruments, incorporating both imaging and spectroscopic data at optical, infrared, and radio wavelengths to try to formulate a coherent picture of the problem under study.