About

Scott Wakely is a professor in the Department of Physics, the Enrico Fermi Institute, and the College at The University of Chicago. His research spans experimental astroparticle physics and high-energy astrophysics, focusing on the nature and origin of very high energy (VHE) cosmic radiation, including gamma rays and cosmic rays above 1 GeV. He is interested in topics at the interface of cosmology and astroparticle physics, such as the propagation of VHE gamma rays through extragalactic photon fields. Professor Wakely is actively involved in several projects, including the High-Energy Light Isotope Experiment (HELIX), a high-altitude balloon-borne magnet spectrometer designed to measure the flux of high-energy cosmic-ray isotopes up to energies of 10 GeV/n, and the VERITAS experiment, which comprises imaging atmospheric Cerenkov telescopes to detect gamma rays in the energy range of approximately 50 GeV to 50 TeV. He is also engaged in the development of the Cerenkov Telescope Array (CTA), a next-generation ground-based gamma-ray observatory aiming for significantly improved sensitivity. His work contributes to advancing our understanding of cosmic rays, gamma-ray sources, and the fundamental processes governing high-energy astrophysical phenomena.

Research topics

• Physics
• Astrophysics
• Astronomy
• Nuclear physics
• Optics

Recent grants

• Particle Astrophysics with VERITAS

  NSF · $880k · 2007–2011

• CAREER: Particle Astrophysics with High-Resolution Cerenkov Imaging

  NSF · $625k · 2007–2012

• Particle Astrophysics with VERITAS

  NSF · $1.0M · 2010–2014

• Particle Astrophysics with VHE Gamma-Ray Detectors

  NSF · $738k · 2013–2017

Frequent coauthors

• R. Mukherjee

  357 shared

• A. N. Otte

  Georgia Institute of Technology

  344 shared

• T. B. Humensky

  Goddard Space Flight Center

  306 shared

• D. Kieda

  306 shared

• L. Fortson

  295 shared

• Wei Cui

  285 shared

• J. P. Finley

  280 shared

• J. Quinn

  278 shared

Labs

• HELIXPI

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