2022 Year in Review
Each year, teams across Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) advance world-class science and inspire learning across generations.
Here’s what that looked like in 2022.
Supporting discoveries across disciplines
This was a landmark year in physics at SURF. In a highly competitive global field, the LUX-ZEPLIN dark matter experiment published a world-leading science result after just three months of data-taking operations. Meanwhile, the Long Baseline Neutrino Facility continued excavating massive underground caverns, which are now 46% complete. These caverns will house the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), which could unlock the universe’s greatest mysteries. Traveling by rail, sea, interstates, and shafts, the first DUNE science components arrived onsite in December. The Majorana Demonstrator repurposed their detector to search for the “tantalizing” decay of nature’s rarest isotope. SURF cohosted the Low Radioactivity Techniques workshop with South Dakota Mines; there, experts from across the globe shared information about this critical branch of particle physics research.
But our science impacts went far beyond physics. SURF also offered some peace and quiet to researchers developing distributed acoustic sensing technology with a three-dimensional twist. And Stanford University researchers got rare insight into microbial communities living nearly a mile underground. On the 4100 Level, researchers pushed rocks to their breaking point in an effort to make subsurface CO2 storage safer. The 1700 Level was transformed into a testing ground for Caterpillar’s underground tracking systems. The systems are designed to keep workers safe while underground and enable autonomous equipment operation.
A bigger future ahead
SURF received strong support from the U.S. particle physics community to expand its underground footprint to host next-generation, world-leading experiments and help the United States remain a world leader in research.
As the SURF operator, the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority (SDSTA) developed a phased plan to expand the SURF underground footprint to host up to six additional major experiments on the 4850 Level.
Achieving the highest standards
This year, the SDSTA received International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification in three areas: quality management, environmental management, and worker health and safety. The certification demonstrates that SURF performs its work on par with the 17 U.S. National Laboratories.
Stabilizing the Yates Shaft
SURF crews completed an amazing feat: stabilizing a large section of the Yates Shaft in just six months.
“Teams across SURF pulled together to make this happen—the shaft crews, engineering, operations—and still we supported science and excavation,” said Wendy Straub, director of hoists and shafts. “We did the work safely. We did it efficiently. There were so many things that came together to make this a success story.”
Safeguarding our work
SURF has a comprehensive safety program and an on-call Emergency Rescue Team, ready to respond to emergencies at any time. This year, SURF served as an incident site location during the “Rushmore Roundup,” a regional training exercise hosted by the South Dakota National Guard in partnership with several local, state, and federal agencies.
SURF also invested in the next generation of emergency responders, hosting students from South Dakota Mines and Colorado School of Mines to participate in a simulated mine rescue exercise.
Protecting our environment
In February, SURF surpassed a new milestone: treating more than 9 billion gallons of water at the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP).
“That’s the same as 13,686 Olympic swimming pools — or, you could think of it as one Olympic swimming pool being filled every eight hours since 2008,” said Ken Noren, foreman of the WWTP.
For nearly 15 years, the WWTP team has processed billions of gallons of water while holding the system to the highest industry and environmental standards.
SURF Foundation supports the SURF mission
This year, Michelle Kane was named the new SURF Foundation director and three new members were welcomed to the Foundation board of directors. The Foundation continues to expand its community of donors and garner support for the mission and vision of SURF.
The Foundation’s Sacred Circle Garden campaign reached 100% design and construction of the ethnobotanical garden is scheduled to begin in spring 2023. On Giving Tuesday, the Foundation raised $12,800 to inspire and equip the next generation of scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians.
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1,000 educators impacted
Transforming science education begins with teachers. The Education and Outreach (E&O) department received a $25,000 grant to increase South Dakota (SD) educators’ access to professional development programs.
The E&O team supported 1,000 K-12 educators from school districts across the state during the 2021-2022 school year. Some of this programming was done in partnership with the SD Department of Education and SD EPSCoR. SURF’s E&O team also provided professional development programming to preservice teachers in partnership with Black Hills State University.
20,000 students reached
Our goal is to take students from “learning about” to “figuring out” scientific concepts through the investigation of scientific phenomena. The E&O team uses field trips, school presentations, and curriculum units to ignite student curiosity.
In a record-shattering year, the team reached a total of 20,000 K-12 students during the 2021-2022 school year.
Beyond K-12 education
SURF welcomed seven summer interns, inviting them to explore a career in their chosen field. One student measured the flux of muons underground; another studied engineering upgrades to historic components; one developed a lesson plan for his future classroom, incorporating Indigenous pedagogy best practices. And each of them discovered how their field contributes to the operation of America’s underground science facility.
In 2022, eight Davis-Bahcall Scholars explored the real world of modern research. A tour of universities and laboratories across the Midwest provided insight into where their passions for science, technology, engineering, and math could take them.
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Telling the story
SURF engaged with audiences of all ages through public outreach in 2022. After two years of virtual events, the Neutrino Day science festival returned to its in-person format and drew more than 1,000 attendees to Lead, South Dakota. SURF’s 2022 artist in residence Gary Sczerbaniewicz explored the “sublime” in his SURF-inspired exhibition entitled “The Great Deep.” In December, SURF celebrated Nobel Day with noted cosmologist Neta Bahcall and recognized the monumental contributions of physicist and educator Peggy Norris with the 2022 CORES Award.
Building new bridges
In January, the SDSTA acquired the Sanford Lab Homestake Visitor Center. The facility is dedicated to telling the story of Lead’s rich history and research at SURF. This year, the SDSTA updated the science-focused exhibits and expanded education and outreach programming at the facility. In July, the Visitor Center was awarded a 2022 Traveler’s Choice Award by Trip Advisor for excellence in visitor experience.
Our Team
This year, 34 new employees joined the SURF team. We congratulated 12 team members — Daryl Russell, Martin and Eileen Brosnahan, Jerry Hinker, Nancy Geary, Debbie Meyer, Jay Conrad, Charles Roth, Fritz Reller, Richard Goetz, Peggy Norris, Pat Lebrun — on their retirement and major contributions to SURF over the years. And together, we celebrated the lives and grieved the loss of Lakota elder Jace DeCory and longtime Homestake and SURF mechanical engineer Michael F. Johnson.
Boosting our economy
A recent economic impact study of SURF activities for the years 2020-2029, projects an economic impact of $2 billion and an increase of 1,200 jobs in South Dakota. The study looked at job creation, procurement of goods and services, increased earnings and tax revenues in South Dakota from activities at both SURF and the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (LBNF/DUNE) project, now under construction on the 4850-foot level underground at SURF.
Supporting our neighbors
In January, SURF donated $15,000 to the Handley Center in Lead to help launch the public phase of its Capital Campaign. The campaign focuses on renovating a large section of the building to accommodate several youth groups, including youth basketball; the 4-H archery club; and the Boys and Girls Club, the only after-school program in the Lead-Deadwood School District.
The SURF community hosted a Trunk or Treat event that drew more than 300 attendees; raised $9,000 for local breast cancer patients; held a blood drive during a nationwide blood shortage; and donated food items to Kiewit-Alberici Joint Venture’s fourth Annual Thanksgiving Food Drive.
In 2022, we celebrated how far we’ve come.
On May 30, we commemorated the ten-year anniversary of science in the Davis Campus. What began as a flooded underground space with zero infrastructure, SURF and its partners have transformed into a world-class science laboratory, supporting science across disciplines.
On May 13, the American Physical Society (APS) dedicated the Davis Campus at SURF as a Historic Site in physics. The designation recognized the pioneering neutrino research done by Ray Davis and John Bahcall over nearly three decades, which forever changed our understanding of the Standard Model of Physics.
What will we accomplish in 2023?
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