Bill Harlan named as information officer at Sanford Underground Laboratory at Homestake

By the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority

A South Dakota journalist who once worked at the Homestake gold mine in Lead, S.D., is returning to the mine in a new role.

Rapid City Journal reporter Bill Harlan will begin work in March as the science, education and public information officer for the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority and for its Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory at Homestake.

"We had a number of outstanding applicants for this position and are delighted to have someone with Mr. Harlan's experience as an underground miner and award-winning journalist in this important position," said Dr. Jose Alonso, Sanford Laboratory Director.

In the 1960s, as a young underground miner, Harlan helped lay railroad tracks to Dr. Ray Davis's Nobel prize-winning neutrino detector, which was 4,850 feet underground in the mine. Harlan also worked underground at Homestake in the 1970s.

Harlan has written more than 100 stories about the mine and the laboratory, including last year's series, "The Final Four of Physics," which won third place for in-depth reporting in the 2007 national Suburban Newspaper Association contest. The series was widely praised by scientists around the nation who were familiar with the Homestake application to the National Science Foundation. In July, the NSF designated Homestake as the preferred site for a Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory. (DUSEL will be 7,400 feet underground.)

"Bill Harlan has written much about the Homestake Mine and its conversion to a science laboratory, and that experience will enable him to hit the ground running," Dr. Alonso said.

Harlan was a reporter at the Lead Daily Call/Deadwood Pioneer Times and editor of the Spearfish Queen City Mail before joining the Rapid City Journal in 1985. He has covered major stories including elections, wildfires, Ellsworth Air Force Base and the Sturgis motorcycle rally. Most recently he has covered the state Legislature. Harlan has won state and national journalism awards for his reporting, his columns and his work online.

Harlan also has worked on documentaries that aired on the Turner Broadcasting System, South Dakota Public Television, and on PBS nationwide. His work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, the Denver Post and other publications.

Harlan will work with news media, community groups, and the scientific and education communities on behalf of the Sanford Underground Laboratory at Homestake.

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