Formal Education/Research

Queenie then decided to pursue a formal education in electrical engineering and, in the Autumn of 1943, enrolled at the Detroit Institute of Technology. According to the Windsor Daily Star (1952: July 15, p. 5):

In a year she had obtained her B.Sc. degree, and had displayed such outstanding brilliance that she was persuaded to take a more advanced course at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, to get her master of Science degree.

She received her M.Sc. in 1946 and then her Ph.D. in electrical engineering in 1952, both from the University of Michigan. Her Ph.D. thesis was entitled: The fusing of ceramic colors onto glass by dielectric heating. A copy is available at the Buhr Shelving Facility under the call number: DISS 3176. Dr. Queenie Halford Shirley is believed to be the first Canadian woman to hold a Ph.D. in electrical engineering.

Although Queenie had a supportive husband, she nevertheless faced the societal stereotypes of her time. The same Windsor Daily Star article mentioned above is entitled "From hot stove to Ph.D: housewife earns degree in electrical engineering". Her role as a housewife is mentioned several times, and after describing her difficult 5 hour roundtrip commute to Ann Arbor (pre-Interstate highway days), the reporter remarked that she returned home at night to “an accumulation of housework”.

From the time the Shirleys settled in Windsor, they filed for numerous U.S., Canadian, and English patents, all in printing and ceramic processes. Some were filed jointly, some individually. In about 1948, they established the Bureau of Industrial Chemical Research, again at 424 Pitt Street West (also home to the Herald Press). It was mainly involved with printing on ceramic and glass under brand names such as: Koloprint, Prima Glaze, and Permaglaze. There was a branch office in Detroit and a marketing representative in Essex, England.  

Queenie was also an associate member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the Institute of Radio Engineers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute of Physics, and the Professional Engineers of Ontario.