Stanford prof wins UD's Duggal Award for cosmic-ray research
Astrophysicist Stefan Funk, assistant professor of physics at Stanford University, is the recipient of the 2009 Shakti P. Duggal Award. The award is presented by UD's Bartol Research Institute to commemorate Duggal, who died in 1982.
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1 p.m., July 21, 2009----Astrophysicist Stefan Funk, assistant professor of physics at Stanford University, is the recipient of the 2009 Shakti P. Duggal Award.

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Considered the premier honor for outstanding young scientists in the field of cosmic-ray physics, the biennial award was established by the University of Delaware's Bartol Research Institute to commemorate Bartol astrophysicist Shakti Duggal after his untimely death in 1982.

Duggal was well-known and respected for his research in solar-terrestrial and cosmic-ray physics, according to Thomas Gaisser, Martin A. Pomerantz Chair of Physics and Astronomy.

An international committee of leading physicists including the chairman of the Commission on Cosmic Ray Physics of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics and a representative of the Bartol Research Institute selects the Duggal Award winner.

Funk received the award, which includes a plaque and $1,200 cash prize, on July 8 at the 31st International Cosmic Ray Conference in Lodz, Poland, where he presented the first Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope (FGST) results on supernova remnants, which scientists think could be responsible for accelerating cosmic rays.

A member of Stanford's Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology and the SLAC national accelerator laboratory, Funk is part of a team that uses the FGST along with X-ray satellites and ground-based observatories to study galactic sources of these high-energy charged particles.

His interests are in high-energy astrophysics with instruments spanning the energy range from kiloelectron volt (keV) X-rays to the highest-energy gamma-rays detected from any astrophysical object with Cherenkov telescopes at up to 100 teravolts (TeV). He also is involved in the instrumentation, design, and planning of future international gamma-ray instruments, and is an associated member of the High Energy Spectroscopic System (H.E.S.S.) collaboration.

“It's a great honor,” Funk said of the award in a Stanford news release. “The group of people who have been awarded the Duggal prize in the past is a very illustrious group, so I was very surprised to get it.”

During the coming academic year, Funk will present his work at a colloquium on the UD campus, hosted by the Bartol Research Institute.

Article by Tracey Bryant

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