Education and Public Outreach at the Soudan Mine Underground Lab

建议编号：0758090 INSTUTION：明尼苏达大学DuluthNSF计划：PHY-基本粒子加速USERPRINCAL调查员：Habig，Alec T.TITLE：苏丹矿地下实验室的教育和公共推广项目摘要该提案请求为国家？S唯一运营的地下高能粒子物理和天体物理设施的公共推广计划提供资金。该实验室设在明尼苏达州的一个州立公园里，每年约有4000名S公园的游客在地下2341英尺的地方冒险参观该设施、MINOS和CDMS-II实验，并了解中微子和暗物质。要求提供支助，以继续实施自2003年MINOS探测器完成以来一直实施的成功方案。苏丹地下矿是明尼苏达州自然资源部(DNR)在明尼苏达州北部的一座旧铁矿中运营的历史遗址。每年大约有28,000人参加历史性的？在公园里游览，参观半英里深的矿井底部的工作场所。实验室也在矿场的最低层，那里的实验受益于宇宙线背景与地球表面S相比减少了10**5。这项提议的中心是更广泛的影响，但这里描述的外展计划对基础科学计划的智力价值有重大影响，并支持其智力价值。既定的教育和推广计划、一流的研究设施和不同寻常而令人印象深刻的地理位置的巧合，为学生和普通公众提供了一个极好的机会，让他们以一种有趣和容易接近的方式了解往往深奥的粒子物理世界。他们还提议出资在明尼苏达州伊利市附近的弗米尔社区学院举办一年一度的开放日活动。这将有助于该实验室在社区中获得高度和积极的知名度，并将科学带给更多的人。

PROPOSAL NUMBER: 0758090INSTITUTION: U of Minnesota DuluthNSF PROGRAM: PHY - ELEMENTARY PARTICLE ACCEL USERPRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Habig, Alec T.TITLE: Education and Public Outreach at the Soudan Mine Underground Lab ABSTRACTThis proposal requests funding for the public outreach program at the Soudan Mine Underground Laboratory, the country?s only operational underground high energy particle physics and astrophysics facility. The Lab is hosted in a Minnesota State Park, where each year about 4,000 of the Park?s visitors venture 2,341 feet underground to see the facility, the MINOS and CDMS-II experiments, and to learn about neutrinos and Dark Matter. Support is requested to continue the successful program which has been in place since the MINOS detector was completed in 2003. The Soudan Underground Mine is a historical site operated by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in an old iron mine in Northern Minnesota. Around 28,000 people per year take the ?historical? tour in the park, visiting the workings at the bottom of the ½-mile deep mine. The Laboratory is also on that lowest level of the mine, where experiments benefit from the 10**5 reduction in the cosmic ray background compared to the Earth?s surface. This proposal is centered on the broader impact, but the outreach program described here has a significant impact on, and supports the intellectual merit of, the underlying science program. The coincidence of an established education and outreach program, a top-notch research facility, and an unusual and impressive location provide a great opportunity to bring students and the general public into the lab where they learn about the often esoteric world of particle physics in an intriguing and accessible fashion. They also propose to fund an annual Open House at Vermillion Community College in nearby Ely, MN. This will help give the lab a high and positive profile in the community as well as bring the science to even more people.