This career proposal describes ground breaking techniques to detect a possible form of dark matter known as WIMPS: Weakly Interacting Massive Particles. Most of the universe is thought to be made of matter which has never been observed through existing techniques and WIMPS is one of the logical candidates for such unobserved dark matter. The educational component of this proposal involves the development of interactive exhibits to inform the general public about such astrophysics research, especially using the Great Lakes Science Center.