Women in Deep Foundations Committee
Professional Development Grants
Spring applications will open April 1, 2025
The DFI Educational Trust and the Deep Foundations Institute’s Women in Deep Foundations Committee are proud to provide professional development grant opportunities to women involved in design and construction of deep foundations. The goal of DFI’s Women in Deep Foundations Committee is to increase networking opportunities and improve retention of female professionals in the deep foundations industry. The future of our industry depends upon diversity, which can be influenced by encouraging promising female professionals to remain in deep foundations careers.
Eligibility
Candidates must be women currently or formerly employed in the deep foundations industry or academia.
Applicant must be recommended by their current or past employer’s company leadership.
Grants are awarded based on standards that do not discriminate relative to the applicant’s race, color, religion, age, nationality, ethnic origin, or sexual orientation.
Criteria for Submissions
- Completed application form submitted no later than May 15, 2025.
- Personal essay, no more than 500 words, highlighting why the applicant chose to pursue a deep foundations-related career, applicant’s interests and experiences in the deep foundations industry, applicant’s future professional development plans, applicant’s leadership and participation in related professional activities, and applicant’s intention to continue involvement with the Women in Deep Foundations Committee and the DFI organization.
- One-page résumé, including education, work experience, activities, and organizations and professional affiliations.
- One letter of recommendation from applicant’s company leadership recommending the applicant for the grant, including a description of how the applicant will benefit from the grant and wider exposure to the DFI Women in Deep Foundations Committee and the DFI organization, and outlining the employer’s professional development support for the applicant.
- DFI will notify all applicants of the result of their applications on or about July 18, 2025
Awards
Eleven (11) travel grants of $1,750 each and free, full annual conference registrations will be awarded in 2025. The grants must be used to cover lodging, meals, travel, and other related expenses for the recipients’ attendance of the DFI 50th Annual Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
The recipients will be featured in the DFI magazine Deep Foundations, and will be recognized at the conference during the Women in Deep Foundations (WiDF) Committee Reception and the Awards Banquet.
Recipients will each receive a check at the end of the Conference, contingent upon attending the following conference functions:
- WiDF Committee Reception
- Awards Dinner
- WiDF Committee meeting
- Another committee meeting on a topic of interest to the recipient
- And at least one session of the Conference
Award Recipients
The DFI Educational Trust is Proud to have awarded WiDF Professional Development Grants to over 50 recipients in the past decade.
| Award Year | Recipient |
|---|---|
|
2024 |
Adara Getsy • Nicholson Construction Company Ailie Vuper • Langan Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. Ankitha Arvan • Florida International University Jenny Earle • Isherwood Geostructural Engineers Paola Bandini • New Mexico State University |
|
2023 |
Ashley Peay • WW Clyde Betania Karim • GEI Consultants, Inc. Izabelle Tomko • Menard USA Kassandra Kromish • Keller Morgan Berger • American Geotechnical & Environmental Services |
|
2022 |
Chelsea Hoplin • GEI Consultants, Inc. Emily Trousil • Nicholson Construction Company Genesis Figueroa Palacios • Graduate Student Researcher, University of California Irvine Joanna Mason • Schnable Foundation Company Leili Javidannia • GeoEngineers Pascale Leonard • Double Star Drilling |
|
2021 |
Abigail Stein • GEI Consultants, Inc. Gaby Vasquez • D&S Engineering Labs Lauren Dziagwa • American Geotechnical & Environmental Services Min Liew • Graduate Research Assistant, The Pennsylvania State University Sangeen A. Desai • Keller Ground Engineering (India) |
|
2020 |
Akhila Manne • Keller Ground Engineering (India) Fernanda Bezerra Tomaduci Imamura • Graduate Student, University of Alberta Ingrid Tomac • University of California San Diego Julia Chessa • Menard USA Meghan Brassard • Haley & Aldrich Taylor DaCanal • American Geotechnical & Environmental Services |
|
2019 |
Adeleine Tran • Jacobs Engineering Amanda Parry • GEI Consultants, Inc. Sayantani Ghosh • Langan Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc. Sherry Pirzadeh • Menard USA Tugce Baser • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
|
2018 |
Allison Paraense • F&W Construction Co. Estela León Aguilar • GFA International Gabrielle Wojotowitz • Aurecon Kathryn Petek • Shannon & Wilson Wystan Carswell • Haley & Aldrich |
|
2017 |
Ashley Evans • DiGioia Gray Ashley MacMillan • Geocomp Eva Ieronymaki • Manhattan College Hannah Iezzoni • GEI Consultants, Inc. Shirley Tang • American Geotechnical & Environmental Services |
|
2016 |
Laura Wagner-Bartz • HNTB Corporation Lucy Wu • HNTB Corporation Morgan Race • Braun Intertec Rachel Bisnett • MWH/Stantec Sarah Ramp • Menard USA |
|
2015 |
Adda Athanosopolous Zekkos • University of Michigan Courtney Vissman • Golder Associates Kathryn Petek • Shannon & Wilson Linda Chen • Almita Piling Miranda Slomkowski • Schnable Engineering Mo’oud Nasr • Coffey International |