SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, United States
The challenges in developing the DUNE near detector are all really exciting. We’re pushing both scientific and technical frontiers, including how to process and make sense of the enormous amounts of information produced by the detectors and how to move our detectors, many tons of very sensitive equipment, in the beam to collect neutrinos from different locations. Something interesting happens almost every day in science. When I was a first-year undergrad, I encountered [famous physicist] Maurice Goldhaber at Brookhaven National Laboratory. I got up the courage to strike up a conversation. I was expecting less than a minute of his time, but he spent 15 or 20 minutes explaining his view of neutrinos. There are people who are at the top of their game that make the time to talk with younger scientists. It reminds me that we are all in this together.