Hello! I’m Aaron, currently a doctoral candidate in the MIT department of mechanical engineering. In a nutshell, my research and personal interests lie in the field of precision mechanical and mechatronic design. How do you get the most performance and reliability with the minimum amount of resources, and what analytical tools can you use to iterate to a final design quickly? (keeping in mind that time is money – time spent designing and analyzing counts as a resource!). I’m interested in the deterministic design and control of precision machines and instruments, particularly as they apply to cutting processes and instabilities thereof.
Lightning quick summary of my research (more info on the sub-page): I’m studying the stability of a non-cyclical cutting process, developing models for instability, and linking expected instability regimes to cutting setup, material, and machine parameters. This research would be a contribution towards enabling large-volume high-resolution brain tissue maps.
Aside from research, I’ve also been involved in some of the campus maker efforts. In my time at MIT as an undergrad and now as a graduate student, I’ve had the opportunity to use many of MIT’s makerspaces and machine shops, both as user and for some of them as an instructor/supervisor/helpful dude; in particular as a long-time MIT Hobby Shop member and as the first president of the recently-founded MIT Makerworkshop.
I’m the type of engineer who is happiest spending half his time “in the library” and half his time “in the lab” – following the engineering adage (where does this actually come from?) that three hours in the library can save three months in the lab – and that the reverse is sometimes also true! I’m a hands-on learner and enjoy getting my hands dirty and spending time in the shop and lab. In the picture above, I’m shoveling out spent garnet from an abrasive waterjet machine in the MIT manufacturing teaching shop.
Briefly, my hobbies include cooking, baking levain breads, woodworking (less of this after a shop injury and trip to MIT medical), classical guitar, relaxing video games, and having way too many fountain pens + inks.
Contact: aeram00 at mit dot edu