Rate My Professor Christine Blaine

Christine Blaine is Professor of Chemistry at Carthage College, a position she has held since 1995. Prior to joining Carthage, she served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. She earned a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. in Chemistry from the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota. Blaine teaches inorganic chemistry, general chemistry, and advanced laboratory courses, including CHM 1010: General Chemistry I, CHM 1020: General Chemistry II, CHM 2120: Inorganic Chemistry, CHM 3100: Advanced Synthesis Laboratory, CHM 3110: Advanced Integrated Laboratory, CHM 4000: Chemistry Senior Thesis, and CHM 4120: Advanced Inorganic Chemistry. She is actively involved in mentoring undergraduate students in their senior thesis research.

Blaine's research and professional activities emphasize science outreach and environmental monitoring. She serves as a liaison between Kenosha Unified School District schools and Carthage College, conducting engaging science activities with elementary and middle school students to foster curiosity and passion for science. Since 2007, she has guided Carthage students in ongoing research assessing water quality in the Pike River, with a focus on chloride concentrations from road salt; data from this project are archived in the Surface Water Integrated Monitoring System database of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. As Co-Principal Investigator, Blaine helped secure a National Science Foundation Noyce Scholarship Program grant totaling $1,197,872 from June 2017 to May 2022 (with a one-year extension), titled “A Community Building Approach to Preparing Secondary Science and Math Teachers.” Her scholarly publications, primarily from her doctoral research, include “Electrochemical and IR Spectroelectrochemical Studies of the Electrocatalytic Reduction of Carbon Dioxide by [Ir₂(dimen)₄]²⁺ (dimen = 1,8-Diisocyanomenthane)” (1996), “Acute and longer term effects of meso-2,3 dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) on the behavior of lead-exposed and control mice” (1996), “Electrochemistry and infrared spectroelectrochemistry of the substituted phosphine complexes, XTa(CO)₄(dppe) (X = I, Br) and XM(CO)₂(dppe)₂ (X = H, I, Br, Cl; M= Nb, Ta)” (1995), “Infrared spectroelectrochemistry of [Rh(TM₄)₄M(CO)₅]²²⁺ (TM₄=2,5-diisocyano-2,5-dimethylhexane; M=Re, Mn): electrontransfer-promoted metal-metal bond cleavage and formation” (1994), “Electrochemical studies of Group V metal carbonyl compounds” (1993), and “Heterobimetallic Au-Os and Au-Ru hydrido complexes. X-ray crystal and molecular structures of [Au₂Os(H)₃(PPh₃)₅]PF₆ and [AuRu(H)₂(CO)(PPh₃)₄]PF₆” (1988), accumulating 149 citations. She contributed a Professor's Favorite Problem on environmental sampling to the 7th edition of Analytical Chemistry by Gary D. Christian. Blaine received Carthage College's Distinguished Teaching Award in 2010 and is a member of the American Chemical Society. Her efforts have significantly influenced undergraduate education, teacher preparation, and regional K-12 science engagement.