Aerospace Club for Engineering and Science (ACES) meeting information: Thursdays after school in Mr. Greene’s Room (C317)

“It’s basically what the name suggests. Usually, on a day-to-day basis, we’re just building stuff like rockets, and maybe [conducting] other scientific experiments, ” says Liana Zhou (‘25), co-founder of ACES. “So that’s really what we’re trying to do — just getting some hands-on experience with building stuff. [One of our] projects that we’re doing with U of M and NASA is SunRISE. We’re building an antenna that connects to satellites in outer space.”

SunRISE’s mission is to detect and study solar radio bursts, brief radio waves in the Sun’s outer atmosphere. Club members build the antenna, analyze data collected from SunRISE, and organize events like campus visits to the University of Michigan. “We have a lot of resources [like] training modules provided for us to learn about radio antenna data collection and stuff [which] you can’t really get anywhere else,” says co-founder Lillian Cui (‘25). 

Although SunRISE is their main project, they explore other areas of STEM and host a variety of guest speakers. “Here at Skyline there are other clubs [where] you learn a lot about science, but you don’t really get to go into the practical side of it — what you’re going to do when you actually have a job in this field,” says Cui. “I think we help members gain a lot of experience that you don’t really get in other clubs.”

“My favorite part about ACES is how we’re here to learn more about space,” says club member Aroosh Salunkhe (‘26). “I really liked how during the last year of the club, we had professors that came from the University of Michigan, and they talked about space and all different types of techniques that they use, […] what discoveries they’ve found, so I like how they’re displaying their process. And I like having them talk about how they do their research.”

If you’re interested in joining ACES, email them at [email protected], fill out the interest form, or follow them on Instagram @skylineaces!