Omar Shaheed III Becomes South Carolina State University’s First Mechatronics Engineering Graduate – AfroTech
Omar Shaheed III stepped into unfamiliar territory in technology, and now he is setting an example after accomplishing an historical first.
The 23-year-old graduated from Berkeley High School in 2020 and was offered an opportunity to apply to South Carolina State University’s mechatronics engineering program by Dr. Hasanul Basher, a professor and chairman of SC State’s Department of Engineering Technology, according to a press release shared with AFROTECH™. The program was in its infancy, and Shaheed was its first student.
The program is geared toward equipping students in electronics, control systems, robotics, communications, computer technology, and power systems to work at companies such as Boeing, BMW, Eli Lilly, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, according to information on the program’s website.
When Dr. Basher approached Shaheed, the program was still in development at the Historically Black College and University (HBCU). Shaheed admitted he was not familiar with the discipline at the time. Still, he applied when its College of Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Transportation launched the degree in 2023.
As part of the mechatronics engineering program, Shaheed learned how to “design, test and manufacture smart systems in robotics, assistive technology, human-machine interaction, manufacturing and unmanned systems.”
Throughout his time at the school, he landed four internships. At Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, his first internship in his sophomore year, he designed an HVAC system layout. He then landed three internships with Boeing, targeting different areas: Lean Six Sigma process improvements in Charleston, SC; manufacturing engineering in Oklahoma City on Air Force One; and product engineering in Charleston.
“There [in Charleston] I clean up a lot of processes, but then I actually got to talk to the customers and get the different adjustments. Each 787 is a different plane… So I got to learn a lot about that,” Shaheed said of the latter in a press release. “All my internships have been in different areas because mechatronics is so versatile. So I’ve learned a lot.”
He has now secured a full-time role at Boeing South Carolina in North Charleston at the top of the new year in 2026. He will be working on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner in different engineering roles, rotating every six months, he said.
Shaheed also completed his studies at South Carolina State University and earned his degree on Dec. 11, marking a major accomplishment as the school’s first mechatronics engineering graduate.
“I’m very excited because it’s been a long time coming, but more so because it means a lot to Dr. (Hasanul) Basher and the program that someone finished,” Shaheed expressed in the news release.
