Wyoming may well benefit from and be involved in research at a new underground physics lab in South Dakota to study the history and makeup of the universe, a University of Wyoming official said.

Bill Gern, UW's vice president of research and economic development, said the entire region will benefit from this week's decision by the National Science Foundation to choose the closed Homestake gold mine at Lead, S.D., as the site of the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory.

"This is terrific news," Gern said, comparing it to the supercomputer center that will be built west of Cheyenne, a $60 million data facility by the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

The UW School of Energy Resources would be among the first to benefit, with its scientists having access to tremendous computing power that could help improve analysis of the state's complex geology and possibly unlock new methods of mineral extraction.

UW has several opportunities to be involved in the Homestake physics lab, Gern said.

"We have remarkably good Internet connections here," he said. Although the South Dakota Legislature will fund a massive, high-speed Internet connection between Homestake and the University of South Dakota, the University of Wyoming can extend its Internet system to Spearfish and Lead, Gern said -a redundant pathway for Internet traffic into and from Homestake.

Other research opportunities for UW could focus on geology and hydrology, or even extreme life forms such as the unique bacteria found deep in the old gold mine, Gern said.

Between the Homestake physics lab and the NCAR computer center, there will be major, large-scale research programs in and around Wyoming, he said.

"There are a lot of businesses that like to be in the neighborhood of major research programs," Gern said, anticipating that there will be startups, business moves and expansions in Wyoming and the Black Hills.

The Homestake underground lab will conduct research in physics, astrophysics, earth science and geomicrobiology, studying particles from the sun, the formation of minerals and hydrology inside the Earth and microbial life deep underground, according to published reports.

Construction is scheduled to start in fiscal year 2010, depending on funding from Congress.

Physicists want the protection of more than a mile of rock, which can filter out cosmic rays that would otherwise interfere with experiments designed increase their understanding of the universe's composition.

Deep in the mine, scientists would have direct access to geological structures and tectonic processes - something of interest to UW faculty.

"We don't have researchers in particle physics," Gern said, but there are plenty of other disciplines that can find research opportunities deep beneath the streets of Lead, S.D.

* Last we knew: An old gold mine in South Dakota was chosen as the site of a new underground physics lab.

* The latest: Wyoming could benefit from the project.

* What's next: Construction is scheduled to start in fiscal year 2010, depending on funding from Congress.