The opportunity of a lifetime

This summer Dana Byram got the opportunity of a lifetime when he was offered a spot in Gran Sasso National Laboratory?s (LNGS) Summer Institute. Located in Italy, LNGS hosts major experiments in astroparticle physics in the world?s largest underground lab. 

?This was a great opportunity for me,? the Experiment Support Scientist said. ?I?ve been wanting to visit other underground facilities because of my position at Sanford Lab and with the Majorana Demonstrator project (MJD). This was a great way to do that.? Julieta Gruszko, University of Washington, and Benjamin Shanks, University of North Carolina, also attended the Institute.

The two-week institute gave graduate students a chance to work with researchers on such experiments as OPERA (Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus), which is seeking tau neutrinos in beams of muon neutrinos; ICARUS (Imaging Cosmic And Rare Underground Signals), which studies neutrino oscillation; and GERDA (Germanium Detector Array), a 76Ge double-beta decay experiment. 

The first week of the institute was spent in lectures, ?a really interesting blend of theory and experimental techniques,? Byram said. The second week took students into the lab. Byram was assigned to GERDA. ?Our goal was to calibrate one of the germanium crystals in the detector using Thorium 228,? he said. 

Byram developed a presentation on his research, which will be presented at Sanford Lab. He also is working on a paper that will be published as part of a ?proceedings paper.? Byram said the experience helped him realize how much he?s learned?and how much more there is to learn, especially in particle physics. 

?Being there made me excited for the future of Sanford Lab,? Byram said. ?This is a great facility that will only grow as international collaborations grow.?