Top of the class!

Shi Governor General's Silver Medal IEEE Gold Medal in Electrical Engineering

Shirley Shi has a secret formula for succeeding in school, and in life.

"I always try to manage my time carefully by breaking tasks down into small pieces," she says. "Most of all, I check my ego at the door. If I don’t know how to do something or I’m in over my head, I always ask for help."

It’s a winning attitude. Not only did Shi achieve a perfect GPA of 9.0 in her undergraduate engineering degree, she’s a double medal winner. She’s taking home the Governor General’s Silver Medal as the university’s top undergraduate in all faculties and the IEEE Victoria Section Gold Medal in Electrical Engineering as that department’s top student.

Born in Harbin in northeastern China, Shi immigrated to Canada at the age of 15. Her father was a university math teacher and her mother trained as a school teacher. "I was born under China’s ‘one child’ policy, so my parents had fairly high expectations. They always encouraged me."

While a student at Mount Douglas High, her near-perfect scores in Grade 11 and 12 math competitions brought her to the attention of Dr. Bill Pfaffenberger of UVic’s math department, who recruited her through the Excellence in Math Awards program (see story, p.11).

Among the many awards that helped Shi during her studies: the John Locke Malkin Entrance Scholarship, the Howard Petch Scholarship, the James R. Bullick Memorial Scholarship, the Mark E. Mooney Memorial Scholarship, and the Angus and Annie Mackay Scholarship.

Admitted to graduate school at MIT on a full teaching assistantship, Shi will go on to study signal processing, communication and control systems, with applications in cell phones, routers and controls for electrical systems and machinery. Field work in industry will likely precede her return to academic life as a teacher and researcher.

For those who want to emulate her success, Shi offers one tried and true piece of wisdom for managing a heavy course load: "Believe me," she says, "cramming never works."