SURF announces 2024 Davis-Bahcall Scholars

The 2023 Davis-Bahcall Scholars include: Mackenzie Hollenbeck, Huixin Zhang, Nicolette Dame, James Roth, Ashley Tiezen, Beck Bruch, Colby Routh, and Jing Yan. 

Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) has selected the 2024 cohort of Davis-Bahcall Scholars. The scholars, who come from across the state of South Dakota, will take part in a once-in-a-lifetime, all-expense-paid opportunity that connects science-curious students with peers and mentors while exploring the modern world of STEM research.

“The Davis-Bahcall program introduces students to a variety of STEM disciplines and can be helpful to them in deciding on their major in college,” said Brianna Mount, associate professor of physics at Black Hills State University (BHSU). “It comes at a point in their education where they are choosing their future career path. It’s a critical time because they get exposed to many different disciplines and learn early in their education what professionals do every day, whether in science, engineering, or another STEM field.”

The 2024 Davis-Bahcall Scholars are Beck Bruch, from Sturgis, who is finishing his freshman year at the Georgia Institute of Technology; Nicolette Dame, from Rapid City, who is a starting freshman at the University of North Dakota; Mackenzie Hollenbeck, from Edgemont, who is a starting freshman at South Dakota State University; James Roth, from Spearfish, who is finishing his freshman year at Black Hills State University; Colby Routh, from Spearfish, who is finishing his freshman year at Black Hills State University; Ashley Tiezen, a graduate of Canistota High School, who is a starting freshman at Colorado State University; Jing Yan, from Sioux Falls, who is completing their freshman year at Lehigh University; and Huixin Zhang, from Vermillion, who is a starting freshman at Washington University in St. Louis.

The Davis-Bachall Scholars program is designed to help rising university freshmen and sophomores who are considering or who are entering STEM fields develop an understanding of where their passions could take them. The program demystifies STEM careers by exposing students to what professionals do every day.

For Huixin Zhang, the program provides the perfect opportunity to explore future career options. “I realize that my experience at the University of South Dakota is just a small part of STEM research. From chemistry to physics to engineering, there is a diverse range of research labs I have yet to discover, and I believe the Davis-Bahcall program will enable me to solidify what types of research I would like to pursue in the future,” Zhang said.

James Roth, another of the 2024 Davis-Bahcall Scholars, also touts the value in meeting fellow students who are on similar paths. “The opportunity to meet like-minded peers who similarly have a passion for the sciences is a once-in-a-lifetime chance that is provided through this scholarship,” says Roth.

The 2024 Davis-Bahcall Scholars program will run from Sunday, June 16 through Sunday, July 14. Scholars will spend this time exploring leading universities and laboratories including the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, and Boulby Underground Laboratory in the United Kingdom.

The program is named in honor of experimental physicist Ray Davis Jr. and theoretical physicist John Bahcall. Davis built a Nobel Prize winning neutrino experiment at the 4850 foot level of the former mine that is now home to America’s Underground Lab. About 100 students have participated in the program since 2009.

Major sponsors of the program include First PREMIER Bank, Black Hills State University, the South Dakota Space Grant Consortium, and the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority.