| Gamma-ray Bursts (GRBs) are the most powerful known explosions in the universe. Forty years after their discovery, they are still some of the most enigmatic phenomena in the universe. Sensitive measurements of the high-energy spectra of GRBs can place important constraints on the burst environments, particle acceleration mechanisms and radiation mechanisms. Until the past few years, there were no observations of the early minutes of GRB afterglows in the energy range between 30 GeV and 1 TeV. With the launch of the Swift GRB Explorer in late 2004, GRB alerts and localizations within seconds of the bursts became available. The Solar Tower Atmospheric Cherenkov Effect Experiment (STACEE) was a ground-based, gamma-ray telescope sensitive to gamma rays with energies above 50 GeV. At the time of Swift's launch, STACEE was in a rare position to provide rapid, low-energy-threshold follow-up observations of GRBs. In addition, STACEE performed follow-up observations of several GRBs that were localized by other satellites. Between the end of major modifications to the experiment in 2002 and the decommissioning of the experiment in 2007, STACEE obtained follow-up observations of 23 GRBs. In this thesis, STACEE's GRB observations are described and limits are placed on the high-energy, gamma-ray fluxes that reached Earth from these bursts. |
