The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that the MINERvA experiment at Fermilab will receive funding through the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program. The total amount of the award is $747,883 to go to the University of Rochester and to four sub-awardee institutions, Hampton University, Univrsity of Minnesota-Duluth, University of Pittsburgh and The College of William and Mary.

The funds will pay for construction of a a response "scanner" for components of the MINERvA detector, a photomultiplier tube calibration and monitoring system, a small version of the MINERvA detector to study response in a proton and pion beam, and "nuclear targets" of liquid helium, graphite, steel and lead on which to measure neutrino interactions.

MINERvA is a neutrino scattering experiment which uses the NuMI beamline at Fermilab. MINERvA seeks to measure low energy neutrino interactions both in support of neutrino oscillation experiments and also to study the strong dynamics of the nucleon and nucleus that affect these interactions. MINERvA is currently in its final design and prototyping stages. The first detector module will be completed in late 2006 and we plan to begin taking data in 2009.

Prof. Kevin McFarland of the University of Rochester serves as the PI for the new grant. Other co-investigators include Profs. Eric Christy and Cythia Keppel of Hampton University, Prof. Rik Gran of the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Prof. Steven Dytman, Donna Naples and Vittorio Paolone of the University of Pittsburgh, Profs. Arie Bodek and Steven Manly and Dr. Howard Budd of the University of Rochester, and Prof. Jeff Nelson of The College of William and Mary.