Aaron Silver

School: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Major(s): Electrical Engineering

About me: I originally come from Holland, Michigan. I received my B.S. in Engineering from Hope College in 2008, and currently attend Illinois for graduate school. My interests include robotics, control, and artificial intelligence, and I am involved in active research in the Language Acquisition and Robotics research group at Illinois. Some of my other interests include traveling and camping, as I have done a ton of camping in 40-some states and most of the provinces in Canada. I’m also pretty big into sports, I’m a fan of all the Detroit teams (Pistons, Tigers, Lions, Red Wings), and above all else, a huge New York Yankees fan. Lastly, music is a passion of mine. I have played in orchestras, wind symphonies, jazz ensembles, brass quintets, you name it I’ve done it. I have been playing piano since I was about 4 years old, and have never stopped. For this summer, as part of the Lunar Planetary Science Academy, I get to work with a great group on the development of a free space laser ranging and communication system. By the end of the summer, it is our hope to be able to send out data on a laser to a nearby cell tower, and receive data as well as distance information.