Neutrino Day 2020

Help us celebrate the completion of our first-ever virtual Neutrino Day event! With speakers, live chats with scientists, hands-on activities, Native American games, Science Steve, contests and facility tours—everything we've come to love about Neutrino Day was broadcast worldwide this July.

4,813

Video Views

Countries

Our virtual Audience

During virtual Neutrino Day: A Matter Mystery, scientists and future scientists of all ages from all over the world were invited to participate in the festivities! With more than 17 hours worth of content, everyone was sure to find an activity to keep them engaged and a topic to keep them wondering. With viewers from 21 different countries and an attendance of 4,813, the virtual nature of this event helped broaden our reach. Throughout the week, people were watching live talks and presentations and participating in anytime activities, filling out their investigator notebooks and commenting on our virtual events—with a total of 13,199 page views on neutrinoday.com during the week. Although Neutrino Day is over, the fun is still available at www.neutrinoday.com.

17.7

hours of content

Interactive Events & Activities

Picture of a split screen between 2 people talking.

A Matter Mystery series

In keeping with our “A Matter Mystery” theme, we focused on the mysteries that permeate our universe. Science comedian Brian Malow hosted live conversations throughout the week with researchers from around the world. They talked about their investigations into some of the universe’s biggest unsolved mysteries—from the Big Bang to the end of the universe, and quite a bit in between. Don't worry if you missed a topic during Neutrino Day. Each interview in our A Matter Mystery series is still available at www.neutrinoday.com.

Science comedian finale

After a full week of interviewing scientists about our mysterious universe, science comedian Brian Malow made us laugh and think during our Neutrino Day finale! To end the week, Malow wheeled his comic vision from the Big Bang to Kentucky fried dinosaurs to bacteria with gas. Weaving thoughts on unity and division, Pangea and dark energy, Malow brought the universe down to Earth by just adding a bit of gravity. Prepare your funny bone because the Brian Malow stand-up special Just Add Gravity! is still avaiable on our website at https://www.neutrinoday.com/Stand-Up-Special.

Virtual Tours

Although we couldn’t invite our community on site for Neutrino Day this year, we were glad to invite you virtually—from anywhere in the world with three brand-new 360-degree virtual tours of our facility! Now, you can get tours of the award-winning Waste Water Treatment Plant, the Yates Hoistroom and the historic Davis Campus on the 4850 Level. Presentations about SNOLAB in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, and the Open Cut in Lead, South Dakota, are also available. Just because Neutrino Day has passed doesn't mean you need to leave the couch for a tour, just visit our website at www.neutrinoday.com.

E&O Activities

Moments of hands-on discovery are the highlight of Neutrino Day. And this year, we tried to bring that same sense of discovery to your living room! Participants learned about the size of neutrinos, the most abundant particle in the universe in How Small is a Neutrino with Peggy Norris; explored shocking static electricity with Becky Bundy and her assistant, Owen, in Shockingly Static Science; joined Deb Wolf to karate chop their way through science in Investigate the Unseen; delved into the math behind the hoists with Nicol Reiner; and read Stella Bright and the Dark Matter Mystery with Julie Dahl. To join in on the fun any time, visit the Neutrino Day hub at www.neutrinoday.com.

Anytime Activities

Our first-ever virtual event offered dozens of activities for curious minds of all ages—any time! The Neutrino Day anytime activities included demonstrations from perennial favorite Science Steve Rokusek, hands-on science activities with materials found around your home, demonstrations of Native American games with Jeremy Red Eagle and Qs & As with scientists. In addition to these activities, future scientists of all ages were encouraged to participate in the virtual scavenger hunt, Black Hills Energy crossword puzzle, Pre-K—12th grade investigator challenge and more! To learn more about any of these activities and participate in them any time, even after Neutrino Day, visit www.neutrinoday.com/anytime-activities.

Art Exhibit

Gina Gibson, a multimedia artist and professor at Black Hills State University, has spent a year as the Sanford Underground Research Facility’s first-ever Artist-in-Residence. To showcase her work and experiences over the past year, Gibson hosted a virtual art exhibit where participants could "meet" the artist, view some of her work and hear her talk about the exhibit. Visit our Neutrino Day hub at www.neutrinoday.com/Virtual-Art-Reception to view her online-only exhibition “SEEKING the UNSEEN.” The online exhibit will be avaiable for short-term engagement, July 7-21.

Talks and Interviews

In addition to our daily science talks with Brian Malow and an array of scientists, we also had the opportunity to hear from a variety of other speakers: Jeremy Red Eagle, a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate and program director at the Dakota Language Institute, taught us about Native American games, culture and history. Bill Roggenthen, research scientist with the Dept. of Geology and Geological Engineering at the SDSMT, gave us a glimpse into the formation of the region and North America in Open Cut Geology, and Erica Caden, research scientist at SNOLAB, gave us some insight into the different research taking place at SNOLAB in Sudbury, Ontario, while connecting the neutrinos between SNOLAB and SURF. Make sure to enjoy all of the talks and interviews we have available at www.neutrinoday.com.

Five members of the Sanford Lab communications team bring you a staged moment of fustration during Neutrino Day.

The team that made it happen

No event of this scope occurs in a vacuum. It requires a monumental effort by a team that is committed to bringing our guests and participants an exciting, engaging and fun-filled event—year after year.

Our fear was that the pandemic would completely derail our annual free science festival. Instead, it opened a door to the world. Going virtual allowed us to offer activities, demonstrations, speaker events and comedy to people around the globe. Sanford Lab's Neutrino Day Planning Committee, Education and Outreach and Communications teams, as well as its partners and community stepped up to the plate and put together more than 17 hours of activities.

A heartfelt thank you must go out to all of them.

We also need to thank the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority as well as our SURF management team for supporting us as we moved forward into new territory. Their support and encouragement made all the difference.

Finally, we want to thank the teachers of America who inspired us to take a huge leap into the unknown. When the pandemic closed down schools, they got online to ensure their students continued to learn. They taught us a valuable lesson.

Thank you to our sponsors

SURF relies on the support of our sponsors to put on an exciting Neutrino Day year after year. This year was no exception. We extend a heartfelt thank you to the following organizations for their generous contributions to our free annual science festival. We could not do this without their generosity and support.

Major Corporate Sponsors

Black Hills Energy has been a staunch supporter of Neutrino Day since it's inception 12 years ago—both financially and with volunteerism.

New this year is RCS Construction. We are so grateful to have them on board.

Sponsors

South Dakota Public Broadcasting, 12 years

Black Hills State University, 12 years

South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, 6 years

Monument Health, 2 years.

In-kind Sponsors:

Haugo Broadcasting, Homeslice Media Group, KEVN Black Hills Fox, KELO LAND, Simpsons Printing, Mile-Up Marketing, and the Allied Arts Council.

A special thank you also goes to our partner institutions, organizations and individuals who contributed activities. Learn more at www.neutrinoday.com.