Experimental particle physicist Dave Newbold has been elected to serve as the new co-spokesperson for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. He is well-known in the scientific community for his contributions to high-energy physics research and scientific leadership. DUNE, the largest neutrino experiment in the world, is hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
Newbold is currently executive director of national laboratories at the Science and Technology Facilities Council in the United Kingdom, and prior to that he served as STFC’s director of particle physics.
He has been involved with DUNE since 2015, working on the data acquisition system and the production of accelerator and detector components provided by the U.K. Newbold will co-lead the project in its next stages of development, which include the installation and commissioning of the DUNE far detectors at the Sandford Underground Research Facility, production of the near detectors and preparations for the first scientific data and publications.
“It’s a huge privilege to be elected to the leadership of DUNE,” Newbold said. “After more than a decade of work, the next two years will be crucial for the experiment, as we enter the final stages of detector construction and installation and look towards the excitement of our first scientific results. I look forward to working with scientists, institutes and agencies worldwide to ensure the continued success of the program.”
Newbold’s tenure as DUNE co-spokesperson begins in early April, and he will serve in that role for two years.
“I would like to extend my thanks to Sergio Bertolucci for his leadership as co-spokesperson over the last four years. During this time, the collaboration reached several important milestones, and Sergio played a key role in shaping DUNE to reach this point,” said Sowjanya Gollapinni, current DUNE co-spokesperson. “Dave is an excellent physicist, and he brings extensive scientific management and leadership experience. I welcome Dave into his new role and look forward to working with him as we enter into a critical construction phase for DUNE.”
“After more than a decade of work, the next two years will be crucial for the experiment, as we enter the final stages of detector construction and installation and look towards the excitement of our first scientific results.”
Dave Newbold
DUNE co-spokesperson
The DUNE collaboration consists of an international team of more than 1,500 scientists and engineers from more than 35 countries and CERN.
DUNE consists of two state-of-the-art particle detectors that will be housed in the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility. A smaller detector will be located at Fermilab in Illinois, and a much larger one will be constructed a mile beneath the surface at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota. The South Dakota detector will be the largest of its type ever built and will use 70,000 tons of liquid argon and advanced technology to record neutrino interactions with unprecedented precision.
The experiment will be powered by Fermilab’s Proton Improvement Plan II. Currently under construction at Fermilab, PIP-II will produce the world’s most intense high-energy neutrino beam on its journey from Illinois to the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment in South Dakota.
In 2024, DUNE achieved a major milestone with the completion of excavation for the underground lab space in South Dakota. Since that time, crews have been hard at work outfitting the space with infrastructure to support the experiment, such as electricity, water and networking capabilities. Cryostat construction will begin this year as the project enters its third and final phase.
DUNE is expected to begin collecting data in 2029.
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is America’s premier national laboratory for particle physics and accelerator research. Fermi Forward Discovery Group manages Fermilab for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Visit Fermilab’s website at www.fnal.gov and follow us on social media.
Recommended reading
Fermilab’s PIP-II accelerator project recognized at UK-US research showcase
During an event at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., officials honored the successful collaboration between the United States and United Kingdom for building the PIP-II particle accelerator at Fermilab. The powerful new accelerator will be used to send a beam of neutrinos through the Earth for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.
HiLumi LHC: full-scale tests start
Scientists at CERN have triggered the complex cooldown of a 95-meter-long test stand that reproduces the underground configuration of innovative technologies for the Large Hadron Collider’s high-luminosity upgrade.
Keeping liquid argon chilled underground is one of DUNE’s coolest challenges
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment is building the largest underground cryogenic system ever attempted to support its massive liquid-argon detectors.