From AI to embroidery

As a high school student deciding where to attend college, Isaac Tomeho ’26 found himself attracted to the words appearing on the Clark University seal: Fiat Lux. The idea of being drawn to the light helped draw him to the campus. 

The computer science major has since found a path that allows him to indulge his intellectual passions, begin fulfilling a personal plan for his life and career, and enjoy the opportunity to do something truly unexpected: help his fellow students make really cool stuff. More on that shortly.

A self-described “global citizen,” Tomeho is a native of the West African country of Benin who also lived in Ghana, Mali, and Senegal before moving to Massachusetts in 2020 to be with his father. By eighth grade, he’d become so fascinated by computer technology that he already knew it was something he’d study at a higher level.

“If you want to be successful, why not go into a field that you’ve enjoyed since you were a kid — and you’ll keep that passion forever,” he says.

At Clark, Tomeho has worked with Professor John Magee, now provost, to shape technologies that better serve people with significant physical challenges. He also has collaborated with Professor Odebile Olufemi on ways to shrink the necessary storage capacity for large data files by working with specific algorithms. His research into how video-sharing platforms affected social service organizations pre- and post-COVID earned him an invitation to the 2024 Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) International Conference in Washington, D.C. 

Tomeho has served on the Clark Undergraduate Student Council and the Black Student Union, and is an active member of the Men of Color Alliance on campus. Academically, he serves as a teaching assistant for an Intro to Computing course and relishes his role as a mentor to students finding their way through the rigorous computer science curriculum.

Artificial intelligence doesn’t intimidate him, and that’s because he’s a firm believer in the ability of humans to employ the critical and creative thinking necessary to harness the capacities of AI tools without being overwhelmed by them.

“What I’m excited about is tech companies hiring physicists, psychologists, and professionals in the humanities to look at their models and determine if they’re ethically aligned and serving the people,” he says.

Tomeho, to his marrow, is a devoted coder.

“I love to think really hard about a problem, then write the code that will efficiently solve it,” he says. 

After graduation, he plans to work as a software engineer for about seven years, develop and refine his expertise, and then ultimately launch his own company — one “that will positively impact the world.”

How so?

“I don’t know for sure quite yet,” he acknowledges. “But my goal is to make a tech company that is much more about the humanitarian than it is about the technical.”

Last summer, and with Magee’s support, the potential for merging the digital with the tactile inspired Tomeho, alongside Audrey Roller ’25 and Abbi Luetjen ’27, to co-found the Lux Lab, a makerspace located in the Center for Media Arts, Computing, and Design. 

The lab features five 3D printers, a vinyl cutting machine, and a robotic drawing machine called the “Makelangelo,” along with other old- and new-school creative tools and technologies — from four sewing machines and a soldering station to an embroidery machine and a desktop computer equipped with the full Adobe Creative Suite.          

“We actually built the printers from scratch ourselves,” Tomeho recalls with a grin. “They arrived in pieces, and we watched movies and listened to music during the summer while making them.”

Tomeho and his partners have trained Clark students in the use of the machines to craft everything from a robotic hand (Tomeho’s original creation) to stickers, pouches for phones and batteries, embroidered patches, and all sorts of personalized items (the Clark logo is a popular design element for many products). 

“I would say around 170 students have come for orientation and trainings,” Tomeho says. “A big thing for us is that this space is for the entire Clark community, not just for STEM majors. We encourage everyone to take advantage of it.”

The creative process can be messy, and mistakes happen. But patience, persistence, and learning are always the order of the day, which is why, Tomeho notes, Lux Lab operates on a principle described as “build and break.” “We want people to know that success is an iterative process,” he says, “and you can’t have success without breaking a few things along the way.”