MSE alum honoured with Engineering Medal
Engineering Medal – Young Engineer | Dwayne R. Shirley | MSE 0T1, MASc 0T3, PhD 0T9
Still early in his career, Dwayne R. Shirley has already achieved great academic success and
demonstrated tremendous dedication to realizing an inclusive engineering profession.
Dwayne has established expertise in the deformation of the lead-free solder used extensively
in the electrical connections in modern computers and microelectronics devices. His dissertation developed
a novel approach to accurately account for creep and thermal fatigue, which are major factors
affecting the reliability of microelectronic devices. Dwayne is now engaged in materials and
package development for the next generation of semiconductor devices at Texas Instruments Inc.
This follows an exceptional student career in which he maintained a 4.0 grade point average,
served as a course instructor and graduate teaching assistant, authored four refereed journal
articles and delivered numerous technical presentations. He was the first student to win the Best
International Paper Award at the Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA) International
conference for microelectronics.
Dwayne is a passionate promoter of engineering as a career for high school and
postsecondary students, in particular those from groups that are under-represented in the
profession in relation to their representation in the general population. He was founding president
of U of T's student chapters of the SMTA and the National Society of Black Engineers
(NSBE). Dwayne was recognized for his volunteer work and technical achievements with
NSBE’s Mike Shinn Distinguished Member of the Year Award. As a further measure of his
success as a promoter of the profession, Toronto will host NSBE’s annual convention in 2010.
He has been a leading contributor to professional groups that promote engineering careers,
including PEO’s Equity and Diversity Committee, the National Society of Professional Engineers’
Mentorship Taskforce, and FIRST/VEX Robotics design competitions.
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