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As a Davis-Bahcall Scholar, current South Dakota State University freshman Mackenzie Hollenbeck traveled more than 5,000 miles this summer going to some of the top science centers in the world.

But the one that really grabbed her heart was only a little more than 100 miles from her family’s Edgemont ranch. The biology major was among eight South Dakota students who were chosen to participate in the Davis-Bahcall Scholars Program, which is designed to help rising university freshmen and sophomores entering science, technology, engineering and math fields develop an understanding of where their passions could take them.

That was certainly the case for Hollenbeck.

“My original plan, going to college, was to get into veterinary school eventually. Now I'm thinking I might want to try to go into research. We spoke with a lot of graduate students, doctoral students and postdocs who were all conducting research at different facilities. They were all very excited about their work. 

“They all talked about the process and their career paths. These experiences make me think this is what I want to do as well,” Hollenbeck said.

Scholar program began in 2009

Since 2009, 156 students have participated in the Davis-Bahcall Scholars Program at Sanford Underground Research Facility, which was Hollenbeck’s favorite destination. “Going down in the SURF mine was such an interesting experience,” she said of the former Homestake gold mine in the northern Black Hills town of Lead.

“The scale of everything is so impressive. We had heard the numbers and knew we were going a mile underground. But it didn’t feel real until we stepped into the elevator with all our gear and it took us 11 ½ minutes to get down there, and then we spent another 25 minutes walking through the tunnels to get to the lab.  

“It was so impressive because of how old it was because it is an old gold mine that is still structurally sound and how they had built a full real physics lab inside an old mine.”

Homestake Mine operated from 1876 to 2001 and was the largest and deepest gold mine in North America. Research on neutrino particles had begun in the mine in the mid-1960s, but it transitioned into a dedicated underground research facility in 2006 that focuses on neutrinos and dark matter.

During the scholars’ six hours underground, Hollenbeck said personnel there were “so nice and ready to answer our questions about their experiments.”

Scholars take in Chicago, England, ������Ƶ

The scholars program lasted four weeks — June 16 to July 14. They left the Black Hills June 23 and traveled in the Midwest — science labs at ������Ƶ, the Solventum (3M) plant in Aberdeen, which makes adhesives and glues; a physical science lab at the University of Wisconsin and Fermilab near Chicago.

Fermilab is a particle physics and accelerator laboratory on a 6,800-acre campus that shares research interests with Sanford Underground Research Facility.

The group’s final destination was Boulby Underground Laboratory, an operational salt mine on the coast of England near Whitby. Hollenbeck said it was interesting to contrast the Boulby and Sanford labs. 

There were different rules on required equipment and procedures for nonemployees. Boulby was dry while SURF accumulated moisture, and miners and operational personnel were part of the mix at Boulby.

Overall, Hollenbeck considered the tours a tremendous experience to see what isn’t offered to the general public. 

She added, “The chance to see science underway all over the world made me recognize the value of the work happening right here at home. I would say my biggest takeaway from this trip is that science is here in rural places, too. It’s really important that people recognize that major scientific research is not just happening in really big cities and populated areas. It’s out here, too. 

“We’re every bit as important as any of the work happening elsewhere.”