He made many contributions to several engineering fields including structures, sewage management, and education.
He was secretary, vice president and president of the Philomathean Literary Society, associate editor of the Illini delegate to the Interstate Oratorical Association, class essayist, a leading officer in the student government, and an officer in the Cadet Corps.
After graduation, Talbot headed west and did railroad construction and maintenance in Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, and New Mexico.
He taught a wide range of subjects, which at different times included mathematics, surveying, engineering drawing, contracts and specifications, roads and pavements, railroad engineering, mechanics and materials, hydraulics, tunneling and explosives, and water supply and sewerage.
In 1890, he was named Professor of Municipal and Sanitary Engineering in charge of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics.