Spring 2023 marks the first graduating cohort of Boyd Scholars, as well as the first year of awarding a student the Outstanding Boyd Scholar Award. This award is given to a student who completed their first year of engineering study in the Boyd Scholars program and is now being recognized as the most outstanding graduating senior of the program based on their accomplishments, including scholarship, leadership, engagement, and integrity in engineering. As the inaugural recipient of the Outstanding Boyd Scholar Award, AJ Sanders embodies all these qualities.
AJ has been heavily involved in several student organizations during his time at Clemson, taking the initiative to serve in several executive roles. He has been a part of Clemson Engineers for Developing Communities (CEDC) since Spring 2020 and became the Marketing & Branding director in 2021, leading the group through a complete brand shift. He has also been heavily involved in the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), in which he has served as senator and vice president and is currently serving as president of Clemson’s chapter. Finally, he completed the Certified Student Leader program and has been a part of the CECAS Student Advisory Board.
Additionally, AJ has gained a lot of rich experience during his 3 engineering co-op rotations at BMW, making numerous valuable contributions within the quality department. He progressed the department’s data visualization capabilities with Power BI, creating a dashboard prototype that went on to inspire a global standard for a quality management system used across plants over the global BMW network. To do this, AJ had to become an expert in the quality management system and was also tasked with leading training on the system and supporting systems for full-time test and production coordinators. Towards the end of his time at BMW, AJ was tasked with a change management lead using Oracle APEX to complete a project that had been rotated through 2 employees before him. This was a real opportunity for AJ to put his prior co-op experience to the test, along with the leadership skills and training to “think like an engineer” to navigate a complex situation with new and changing information and corporate red tape.
AJ has accomplished all of this and more during his time at Clemson, all while maintaining strong grades. He is a model engineering student and is well-equipped to have a successful engineering career. After graduation, AJ will work in Ally Financial’s Data Analyst-Early Talent program and plans to earn his MBA within the next five years.
