{"id":5184,"date":"2026-05-13T15:05:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/?post_type=profiles&#038;p=5184"},"modified":"2026-08-11T17:39:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T21:39:26","slug":"aidan-talley","status":"publish","type":"profiles","link":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/profiles\/aidan-talley\/","title":{"rendered":"Aidan Talley"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"599\" src=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Talley-Aidan.jpg\" alt=\"by Corban Swain\" class=\"wp-image-5641\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1;object-fit:cover;width:200px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Talley-Aidan.jpg 400w, https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Talley-Aidan-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Howard University<\/strong><br>Faculty Advisor: Prof. TJ Wallin<br>Research Supervisors: Hunter Whaples<br>Department: Materials Science and Engineering<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:0px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Biography<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aidan Talley is a rising sophomore Mechanical Engineering major and Mathematics<br>minor at Howard University, where he maintains a 4.0 GPA. As a member of the Karsh<br>STEM Scholars Program, Aidan is dedicated to pursuing a PhD. His research experience<br>includes modeling and testing aerodynamic structures at Howard\u2019s Applied Fluids &amp; Thermal<br>Engineering Research Laboratory. Currently, as a 2026 MIT Summer Research Program<br>(MSRP) intern in the Wallin Lab, he explores visible-light photoinitiators for open-source<br>tomographic additive manufacturing. Driven by a passion for interdisciplinary innovation,<br>Aidan combines sharp analytical thinking with hands-on collaboration to solve complex<br>engineering challenges. Beyond academics, he is actively involved in the organization Men of<br>George Washington Carver Incorporated, volunteering to build a supportive and empowering<br>community for men on campus. His unique blend of technical expertise and community<br>leadership makes him a strong contributor to both research teams and campus organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><br><strong>Visible Light Photoinitiators for Open-Source Tomographic VAM<br>Aidan Talley1, Hunter Whaples2, Dr. T.J. Wallin2<\/strong><br>1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Howard University<br>2Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><br>Volumetric additive manufacturing (VAM) is a rapid, layer-free 3D printing process<br>that produces parts by projecting tomographic photopatterns into a rotating volume<br>of photopolymer resin. These overlapping projections generate a three-dimensional<br>photodose distribution that spatially controls the local initiation rate to selectively solidify<br>a desired geometry. While conventional VAM relies on ultraviolet (UV) excision of Type I<br>photoinitiators like TPO and BAPO, OpenCAL &#8211; a recent open-source VAM architecture &#8211;<br>utilizes visible wavelengths. Both approaches, however, are incompatible with commodity<br>UV printing resins. High photoinitiator loading causes excessive UV attention that prevents<br>deep light penetration required for VAM. These same initiators exhibit negligible reactivity in<br>the visible regime. To expand the accessible material suited for visible-light VAM, this work<br>investigates the incorporation of triethanolamine (TEOA) as a sensitizer in both commercial<br>resins and a laboratory-formulated diurethane dimethacrylate (DUDMA) system. Under 440<br>nm irradiation, TPO and BAPO can reach an excited electron state but do not readily cleave.<br>TEOA can engage these excited states via electron transfer to generate \u03b1-amino alkyl radicals<br>that efficiently drive polymerization without significantly increasing optical attenuation. This<br>enables high monomer conversion under blue-light irradiation while preserving the bulk<br>optical transparency required for volumetric dose construction<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5417,"template":"","profile_category":[25],"class_list":["post-5184","profiles","type-profiles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","profile_category-2026-interns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profiles"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5764,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5184\/revisions\/5764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"profile_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_category?post=5184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}