School Library Boot Camp - Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF)

This is the session that I was most looking forward to. Although we didn't get to go down into the tunnels, like everyone wanted, I think that this was an amazing experience.

We learned from our presenter, Julie Dahl, that most of the science experiments being performed at SURF are at the 4850' level and that there are only 76 people allowed under ground at any given time for evacuation purposes. The LUX (Large Underground Xenon Detector) and the Majorana Detector are the two major experiments happening right now at the SURF, although there are over a dozen other, less publicized experiments going on too. The Earth Movement Detector (geologists detected movement caused by earthquakes thousands of miles away), Life Underground (NASA driven experiment for life on Mars), and the upcoming Neutrino Experiment (partnering with Fermilab to study neutrinos as they travel through the earth).

One of their missions at the SURF is to promote STEM education and student participation, engagement, and performance in STEM fields. She discussed teaching writing and literacy across the curriculum and working on research projects. I thought her examples of where to find ideas for a research project (Popular Science, TED Talks, Scientific American, and Mythbusters!) were g
reat!

I thought that she had great information that anyone could understand and that I learned quite a bit from this session.

The wonderful Peggy Norris led our tour of the SURF Yates Cage and Hoist Room. You could tell that she was passionate about engineering and education.

I definitely came away with some great ideas for collaborating with my teachers and possibly the SURF.

And remember, there are unicorns underground!