When World War II ended Skaggs returned home to Chicago and went back to work on the medical applications of radiation. He resumed his work at Michael Reese Hospital and went on assignment to the physics department at the University of Illinois to team with Donald Kerst for a physics research project. This began what was to become a classic case of collaborative work between two individuals. The goal was to utilize a Betatron to extract an electron beam for medical use. The betatron was invented by Kerst for physics experiments.