International DUNE Collaboration Brings Hundreds of Scientists to the Black Hills: Public Events Planned
More than 250 physicists and researchers from around the world will gather in the Black Hills May 18–22, 2026, for the international DUNE conference.
Deep beneath the Black Hills, a remarkable transformation is underway. At the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), scientists and engineers are building one of the most ambitious physics experiments ever conceived: the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE).
DUNE, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and led by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), will allow physicists to study elusive particles called neutrinos – tiny nearly-massless particles that are all around us. By studying them, scientists hope to understand why the universe is made of matter, and ultimately, why we are all here.
Approximately 250 physicists and researchers from around the world will gather in the Black Hills May 18–22, 2026, for the international DUNE conference co-hosted by South Dakota Mines, and SURF
The conference, taking place in Rapid City and Lead, will bring together the DUNE collaboration, an international effort involving about 1,500 scientists from over 220 institutions across 39 countries. Together, researchers are working to answer some of the biggest questions in physics and build a clearer understanding of how the universe works.
Researchers will meet at The Monument May 18–21 before heading to Lead and convening at the Homestake Opera House May 22 for the final session. The DUNE collaboration’s internal scientific and technical meetings are closed to the public; however, there are public outreach events.
- The Science of DUNE: A Public Talk and Ice Cream Social – 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 19, in the Surbeck Center’s Beck Ballroom on the Mines campus. This event includes a public lecture by Kate Shaw, Ph.D., associate professor of particle physics at the University of Sussex and the International Center for Theoretical Physics; liquid nitrogen ice cream will also be served.
- Deep Talks: The Science and Technology of DUNE by Angela White – 5-7 p.m. Thursday, May 21, at the Sanford Lab Homestake Visitor Center. White is a doctoral researcher working at the forefront of particle physics and DUNE. Currently, she serves as a light readout expert for the 2x2 Demonstrator, a prototype for DUNE’s near detector systems.
- Lakota Hoop Dancing Presentation with Starr Chief Eagle and fellow performers – 4–4:45 p.m. Friday, May 22, Homestake Opera House. Lead.
Some collaboration members will visit the DUNE caverns at the 4,850-foot level, where massive detector modules are being assembled.
“This marks the first time many collaborators will see the scale and progress of the underground detector caverns in person,” said Juergen Reichenbacher, Ph.D., associate professor of physics at Mines, and an organizer of the upcoming collaboration meeting.
On May 7, DUNE celebrated the beginning of cryostat assembly at SURF with a special ceremony and beam signing. DUNE is set to begin taking science data in the early 2030’s, with research continuing until 2050 at SURF.
