The DFI Educational Trust awarded 49 scholarships this spring to 47 exceptional students preparing for a career in the civil engineering and construction fields.
Since 2006, the Trust has awarded $2.7 million in scholarships and grants to more than 700 individuals. The high rate at which scholarship applicants and awardees enter, stay and advance in the industry speaks volumes to the Trust’s positive impact.
At Large Scholarships were provided from the following DFI Educational Trust Scholarship funds:
- Clyde N. Baker, Jr. Foundation Engineering Scholarship Fund (BAKER)
- Charles J. Berkel Memorial Scholarship Fund (BERKEL)
- DFI Educational Trust General Scholarship Fund (GENERAL)
- Francis Gularte Scholarship Fund (GULARTE)
- Fred H. Kulhawy Memorial Scholarship Fund (KULHAWY)
- John O’Malley Scholarship Fund (O’MALLEY)
- Terracon Consultants Scholarship Fund (TERRACON)
- Thomas Wysockey Civil Engineering Scholarship Fund (WYSOCKEY)
Following are the recipients:
- Adesola Habeeb Adegoke, Ph.D. candidate, Arizona State University, awarded $5,000 from O’MALLEY
- Stephen Adusei, Ph.D. candidate, University of Florida, awarded $1,000 from GENERAL
- Melanie Alvarez, junior, Florida International University, awarded $2,500 from GULARTE
- Sampson Arku, Ph.D. candidate, Iowa State University, awarded $3,000 from GENERAL
- Jazir Arteaga, junior, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, awarded $2,000 from BERKEL
- Mahsa Belalzadeh Ganjinehketab, Ph.D. candidate, Iowa State University, awarded $1,000 from GENERAL
- Ethan Benner, junior, The University of Akron, awarded $5,000 from BERKEL
- Melia Costa, senior, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, awarded $2,000 from GENERAL
- Vivek Dahal, graduate student, Widener University, awarded $2,000 from GENERAL
- Alanna Dedenbach, graduate student, Lawrence Technological University, awarded $1,000 from GENERAL
- Ali Doostvandi, Ph.D. candidate, Texas A&M University, awarded $2,500 from GENERAL
- Jacob Dunton, graduate student, Brigham Young University, awarded $2,000 from GENERAL
- Aly Ghanem, Ph.D. candidate, University of California, Davis, awarded $5,000 from O’MALLEY
- Jackson Gil Hernandez, Ph.D. candidate, University of Central Florida, awarded $2,500 from GULARTE
- Claire Houk, senior, University of Kentucky, awarded $5,000 from BERKEL
- Shahriar Khorami, Ph.D. candidate, Montana State University, awarded $5,000 from BAKER
- Lucas Liberatore, junior, Virginia Military Institute, awarded $5,000 from WYSOCKEY
- Annabelle Lovell, senior, University of North Florida, awarded $2,000 from GENERAL
- Zachary Maad, sophomore, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, awarded $3,000 from GENERAL
- Malachi Madison, senior, Georgia Northwestern Technical College, awarded $5,000 from BERKEL
- Petra Martins, graduate student, Portland State University, awarded $1,000 from GENERAL
- Bijay Nepal, graduate student, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, awarded $3,000 from GENERAL
- Michael Odelola, Ph.D. candidate, Florida International University, awarded $5,000 from WYSOCKEY
- Daryn Panchak, senior, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, awarded $2,500 from GENERAL
- Andrew Rathbun, junior, Portland State University, awarded $5,000 from BERKEL
- Graham Richard, junior, Kent State University, awarded $2,500 from GENERAL
- Sadman Rahman Sakib, Ph.D. candidate, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, awarded $5,000 from O’MALLEY
- Mohammad Rezanejadnafouti, Ph.D. candidate, Case Western Reserve University, awarded $1,000 from GENERAL
- Amanda Sampaio, Ph.D. candidate, Iowa State University, awarded $1,000 from KULHAWY
- Syed Shadman Sakib, Ph.D. candidate, University of Kansas, awarded $1,000 from GENERAL
- Brianna Santos, senior, University of Central Florida, awarded $3,000 from BERKEL
- Laura Viera, junior, University of California, Berkeley, awarded $3,000 from BERKEL
- Sean Waters, senior, Illinois Institute of Technology, awarded $5,000 from BERKEL
- Yonacary Wingard, graduate student, Florida International University, awarded $3,000 from TERRACON
- Donna Zeng, senior, University of California, Los Angeles, awarded $2,000 from BERKEL
- Fadzai Zivanai, Ph.D. candidate, Portland State University, awarded $5,000 from WYSOCKEY
Additional Scholarships
In addition to At Large scholarships, 13 students received awards from school-specific scholarship funds.
Charles J. Berkel Memorial Scholarship ($5,000)
- Eric Chen, junior, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Goble Rausche Likins Scholarship ($5,000 each)
- Tyler Kleinsasser, graduate student, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology
- Zachary Maad, Sophomore, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in addition to his award from the General Fund
Langan Legacy Dennis J. Leary Memorial Scholarship ($6,250)
- Isaac Schout, senior, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Larry P. Rayburn University of Cincinnati Civil Engineering Scholarship ($3,000 each)
- Braeden Fauble, freshman
- Everett Gfell, freshman
- Sawyer Mills, freshman
- Jake Pieszak, freshman
Menard Carnegie Mellon University Scholarship ($5,000 each)
- Emily Gilligan, junior
- Joey Kurincak, junior
Michael L. Condon Civil Engineering Scholarship Fund ($5,000 each)
- Malu Assumpcao Castex, senior, San Diego State University
- Melia Costa, senior, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, in addition to her award from the General Fund
- Darya Kholodova, graduate student, University of California, Davis
To donate to these and other scholarship funds, visit www.trust.dfi.org.