Sanford Lab a packed house

The Sanford Lab has been a popular spot this past week.

Researchers in for the project called CUBED?the Center for Ultra-low Background Experiments in the Dakotas?were finishing their annual collaboration meeting here today. CUBED will provide important background radiation data for a range of experiments, including the Large Underground Xenon (LUX) dark matter detector and the Majorana Demonstrator experiment.

CUBED Principal Investigator Dongming Mei of the University of South Dakota said presentations included an overview of past accomplishments and a road map for the future. CUBED has completed four of its first five years of funding, which has come from the Governor?s Research Centers program, from the Department of Energy?s EPSCoR program and from the National Science Foundation.

The CUBED research facility in the Davis Campus is about to begin full operations, so planning for future funding is a priority.

Also meeting here last week were 29 South Dakota teachers?5th through 12th grades?who were participating in a workshop titled Physics of Atomic Nuclei, Underground (PAN Underground). Deputy Education Director Peggy Norris and her colleagues were training teachers to introduce students to modern concepts related to Sanford Lab research.

The largest group was from the annual meeting, in Deadwood, S.D., of the American Association of State Geologists, which sent 126 members to our surface campus on Tuesday for a talk by South Dakota School of Mines Geologist Bill Roggenthen and a Yates hoist room briefing by hoist operator Leon Bachand.