Coming together

BY WENDY PITLICK, Black Hills Pioneer
Article Source

LEAD - A memorandum of understanding between Black Hills State University and the S.D. Science and Technology Authority could help lay the groundwork for a science and education center in Lead.

Dr. Ben Sayler, director of BHSU's Center for the Advancement of Math and Science Education, is also the authority's director for education and outreach after an agreement was signed last week. The memorandum of understanding will retroactively take effect Jan. 1, 2007, and will last through June 2007. It outlines the collaborative activities that will happen between the university and the authority to support the eventual creation of the Sanford Center for Science and Education.

Earlier last year Sioux Falls philanthropist T. Denny Sanford announced that, of his $70 million gift that is contingent upon Homestake being chosen as the site for the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, $20 million would be used for the education center. But since all of that funding is contingent on South Dakota's selection for the DUSEL, Sayler said the authority is making plans and laying groundwork to prepare for the announcement.

Under the agreement Sayler will devote no less than 20 percent of his time working to plan education and outreach programming through working on preliminary designs for a visitor's center and planning and developing teacher workshops to be conducted at the Homestake site.

One specific program involves using an existing program, Science on the Move, to educate K-12 students throughout the Northern Hills about neutrinos. The existing program includes an 18-wheeler tractor/trailer truck, which houses neutrino experiments inside.

"The neutrino experiments can go out to rural schools and help K-12 students all over the state understand why people would want to go underground to detect neutrinos," Sayler said.

The actual memorandum of understanding recognizes these existing resources and relationships of BHSU, and expresses the necessity of taking advantage of those resources.

"BHSU/CAMSE (Center for the Advancement of Math and Science Education) has existing capacity, relationships, materials, and programming that can accelerate the development of the (Stanford Center for Science and Education) at Homestake," the MOU states. "The primary purpose of this MOU is to formalize and strengthen the collaboration between BHSU/CAMSE and (the S.D. Science and Technology Authority) with the intent of both parties to develop a highly innovative center for science and education associated with the underground laboratory and to do so expeditiously and economically."

With a central goal to support and enhance math and science education from kindergarten through college and beyond, the Center for the Advancement of Math and Science Education has worked hand in hand with the authority since 2001. Saylor said the two entities often shared the same objectives. However, with a NSF decision about the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory on the horizon the authority wanted to step up its efforts for outreach and education, and formalize its relationship with BHSU.

"This is kind of a tentative time where nobody is quite sure what is going to happen, but it allows us to move forward and it allows the authority to move forward without having to hire a full time person and relocate them and all of that," Sayler said. Instead they are essentially partnering with us (BHSU) so that they can make progress with education and outreach but they're not (jumping the gun)."

While members of the authority and others remain optimistic that the NSF will choose Homestake as its site for the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, the memorandum of understanding allows for an "out" if Homestake is not chosen. The agreement is for Jan. 1, 2007 through June of 2007, a time frame which extends beyond the time when officials expect the important NSF announcement, but ends right before the next fiscal year of July 2007.

If Homestake is not chosen, Sayler said the authority will reevaluate its agreement with BHSU to determine whether there are still education opportunities to be explored, or whether to dissolve the relationship. If Homestake is chosen, the agreement timeline allows the authority to evaluate its current contract with BHSU and make changes based on the level of support necessary for lab education.

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