Paul Simeon

My first research interests as an undergrad were in experimental and then theoretical particle physics. In graduate school at Stanford University and within the Kavli Institute of Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC), I turned towards astrophysics. My Ph.D. thesis, under the supervision of Roger Blandford, was on a few topics regarding the acceleration and propagation of cosmic rays, both of Galactic and extragalactic origin. My current research is to explain the origin of the highest-energy cosmic rays with large accretion shocks around clusters and filaments of galaxies. The idea of galaxy cluster shocks as a source of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays dates back to Norman, Melrose, and Achterberg in 1995, but my collaborators and I hope to bring the model back in favor with new developments and evidence.