The Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory is an NSF flagship project being constructed in the old Homestake gold mine in Lead South Dakota - the site of Ray Davis' groundbreaking solar neutrino measurement. This laboratory opens the possibility for a very long baseline neutrino oscillation study using a new beam from Fermilab. As noted in the 2007 "Report of the US long baseline neutrino experiment study" - "The study of neutrino oscillations has grown continuously as its key impact on particle physics and various aspects of cosmology have become increasingly clear. The importance of this fundamental physics was recognized by the National Research Council[1] and the Office of Science and Technology Policy[2], and its national budget priority has been established in a joint OSTPOMB policy memorandum in 2005[3]. In fact, as the present study confirms, it is now possible to design practical experiments that are capable of measuring all the parameters that characterize 3-generation neutrino oscillations, including the demonstration of CP-violation for a significant range of parameter values beyond present limits. Also, one of the experimental approaches, in which the detector (regardless of technology) is deployed deep underground, considered in this study has the potential to contribute, to a significant improvement of our knowledge about nucleon decay and natural sources of neutrinos."

Penn has been involved in working towards such a facility and towards building a very large water Cherenkov counter as the detector for over a decade under the leadership of A. Mann and K. Lande. The recent increased interest as noted in the report above and from the most recent P5 reports indicates that this project is very likely to go forward. J. Klein, K. Lande, and R. Van Berg are part of the working group that is trying to define a very large scale water Cherenkov detector to make optimal use of a a new beam from Fermilab.