Hi,
I am a Research Professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State. I'm an experimental astroparticle physicist: I build instruments for high-resolution soft X-ray spectroscopy on suborbital rockets, and instruments for detecting ultra-high-energy neutrinos.
What I'm working on
OGRE: a sounding rocket to take the highest-resolution soft X-ray spectrum of Capella to date. I am the Principal Investigator and lead the mission engineering.
PBR: a super-pressure balloon to detect ultra-high-energy cosmic rays and neutrinos, launching from Wanaka, New Zealand, in spring 2027. I'm Project Manager for the radio instrument.
RNO-G: an in-ice radio array at Summit Station, Greenland. I'm a science team member and driller.
HERON: a radio observatory searching for neutrino bursts from transient astrophysical sources. I'm Project Manager for the Phased Array and lead antenna construction.
Optical blocking filters: technology development for future Probe and Flagship missions. I am the Principal Investigator.
X-ray gratings: manufacture, align and test off-plane X-ray reflection gratings for sounding rockets and future Probe and Flagship missions. I am testing lead.
My group
I'm one of the leads of the Space Instrumentation Group at Penn State. We've flown the WRXR and tREXS sounding rockets and are now building OGRE. For tREXS, I built what is believed to be the largest X-ray focal plane ever flown in space. As lab manager, I run the lab where we build our payloads and mentor graduate students, engineers and undergraduates. I also work with the Wissel Group on neutrino detection, manage the department's rooftop telescopes, and founded the STAR undergraduate research program.
From the field
Read about my fieldwork at Summit Station in 2024 and 2026, and my 2013 JSPS fellowship in Osaka working on ASTRO-H (Hitomi).
Contact
dr (dot) james (dot) tutt (at) gmail (dot) com