More than 50 researchers gathered at SNOLAB for its biennial User Meeting last week. The two-day User Meeting is an opportunity for SNOLAB’s user groups to share new results and milestones of their projects with the research community, says SNOLAB Research Group Manager Steve Sekula.
Sekula co-chaired the meeting with Dr. Miriam Diamond, Assistant Professor of Astroparticle Physics at the University of Toronto.
“The goals of the User Meeting are to allow attendees to learn about the status of ongoing or near-term future projects, develop ideas and networks that could lead to new partnerships, discuss the state of SNOLAB and impacts on its users, and collect feedback on how SNOLAB can better support its users,” Sekula said.
Presentation topics ranged the full gamut of SNOLAB’s research program, from studying the properties of neutrinos to the search for dark matter, from life sciences to the emergence of quantum technology.
As well, the User Meeting focused on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, both at SNOLAB and within the Canadian scientific context, as well the future capabilities of SNOLAB, such as the effective Cryogenic Underground Testing (CUTE) facility.
“The biennial User Meeting is an important component in SNOLAB’s relationship with its collaborators, as well as our commitment to research excellence and the development of skilled people in Canada’s research ecosystem,” Sekula said.
The next step is the summer session of the biannual SNOLAB Experiment Forum, to be held at SNOLAB on July 31.