Applications for Davis-Bahcall accepted through Jan. 5
The program gives students the opportunity to explore the world of modern scientific research at world-leading laboratories.
In the late-1950s, Ray Davis Jr. and John Bahcall proposed an experiment to confirm the nuclear processes taking place at the core of the sun. Using 100,000 gallons of dry cleaning fluid, located nearly a mile underground at the Homestake Mine, Davis hoped to see a certain number of tiny particles called neutrinos. What he saw—or didn’t see, to be more precise, created what was called the “solar neutrino problem” and changed our understanding of particle physics. It also led to the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics for Davis.
To honor their work, Sanford Lab implemented the Davis-Bahcall Scholars Program in 2008. The program gives students the opportunity to explore the world of modern scientific research at world-leading laboratories and universities.
“It is through such learning experiences that new ideas can be fostered in the minds of our next generation of scientists,” said Cynthia Anderson, associate professor of biology at Black Hills State University. Anderson recently was named the coordinator of the Davis-Bahcall Scholars Program.
“I am really looking forward to sharing this opportunity with students and visiting these laboratories in the Midwest and in Italy,” Anderson said. “It’s so important for these scholars to see first-hand the cutting-edge research across a variety of scientific disciplines from Physics to Biology to Engineering.”
For four weeks each summer, students spend time at Sanford Lab then travel to labs across the Midwest, including Fermilab in Illinois. Their final week is spent in Italy, where they visit Gran Sasso National Laboratory. Anderson, who has worked on biology experiments at Sanford Lab, hopes to include a visit to the European Molecular Biology Laboratories in Rome.
Up to eight students will be selected to participate in this all-expense-paid summer-study program, which runs from June 4 through July 1, 2018. The program is sponsored by the Sanford Underground Research Facility, Black Hills State University, the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium and First Premier Bank.
The deadline to apply is Jan. 5, 2018
To learn more about the program and submit an application.
You may also contact Dr. June Apaza, Director of Education & Outreach at Sanford Lab, at june.apaza@bhsu.edu; or Dr. Anderson at CynthiaAnderson@bhsu.edu.