After her Summer 2021 internship was named the Cooperative Education & Internship Association’s Internship of the Year, Tumi Adeeko returned to Case Western Reserve University’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering in 2022 to study with Professor John Lewandowski and his research group.

Adeeko was introduced to the materials field during her 2021 internship, which she described as “exciting in itself.” However, she felt “empowered” by the chance to deeper explore materials in 2022. Fascinated by the field of metal additive manufacturing, she enjoyed learning about the current and potential applications of metal additive manufacturing products. She also was fascinated by using machine learning for the first time. “I learned how powerful a tool it is when attempting to solve problems using image segmentation.” Additionally, she was intrigued by learning about how researchers could learn about materials by studying fatigue behavior of intentionally flawed materials they created.

While in Lewandowski's research group, Adeeko's research mostly focused on improving the understanding of additively manufactured titanium alloys behavior. Adeeko was tasked with using machine learning and image segmentation techniques to automate defect quantification. The aforementioned alloys are primarily used in aerospace and biomedical implant applications. She also conducted mechanical testing on metal samples and used SCSAM's scanning electron microscopes to study the fractography of the alloys.

During the summer, Adeeko was able to transform a four-hour process to a four-minute process through her machine learning algorithm and believes that her work will improve the defect quantification process. She is proud that this work can improve the life of a larger project by saving time on manually counting defects.

"Material science is essential to life because everything is made up of materials,” said Adeeko. “The work these researchers do impacts life in more ways than we can imagine. Hence, it is inspiring to know that people are taking the time to study materials so we can make the most of the natural resources we have, potentially create new materials, and understand how different materials compare, which might inform decision-making when attempting to solve problems.”

As Adeeko prepares to start her senior year as a mechanical engineering major at Youngstown State University, she looks forward to applying the skills she gained at CWRU to her senior design project. “I have grown tremendously as a student and researcher and I am optimistic that the quality of my work this year will reflect this growth,” said Adeeko of her summer.

"Tumi continued to expand her experience with mechanical characterization and fracture surface quantification. She was performing at the level of graduate student and we look forward to continuing to work with her," said Lewandowski.