Scientists from across the country gather at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology this week to talk about an upcoming experiment at the Sanford Lab. The project is called DUNE.
DUNE isn’t only an award winning sci-fi novel, but also an acronym. It stands for deep underground neutrino experiment. The project is a collaboration between Sanford Lab and Fermilab.
The DUNE experiment will propel neutrinos 800 miles underground from Fermilab’s particle accelerator near Chicago to the Black Hills. But distance isn’t the only large part of the project.
"It’s going to be huge," says Juergen Reichenbacher a physics professor at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.
Reichenbacher says if approved, DUNE becomes the largest particle physics experiment in the nation.
“A price-tag is not fixed yet but it is by the hundred million dollar experiment,” says Reichenbacher.
Another professor supporting the experiment is Dr. Luke Corwin. He’s with the physics department at the School of Mines. Corwin says these experiments draw top tier researchers to South Dakota.
“Previous to now, great scientists would have to leave South Dakota to pursue their research elsewhere. But now, we can bring them here to do potentially Nobel Prize winning work right here in the Black Hills or a mile under the Black Hills,” says Corwin.
150 scientists from 27 countries are meeting on the DUNE project at the School of Mines campus this week. You can find more information on the events here.