Speaker
Description
The dark matter parameter space is enormous and there is no one-size-fits-all experiment that can cover it all. Dozens of proposals for novel experiments exist in the literature but are stymied from "graduating" from the page to the laboratory by a lack of funding opportunities for small-scale experiments at the 100k level. The recent Dark Matter New Initiatives program from DOE provides an excellent model for how to fund experiments at the 1M scale which have already achieved sufficient R&D to guarantee science return, but a parallel program at a smaller funding level would enable R&D for cutting-edge ideas. I wish to strongly advocate for continued funding for such small experiments, which would provide a spectacular return on investment.
