Over 100 guests attended the DFI Educational Trust's 9th Annual Gala Fundraising Dinner on November 6, 2014, at The Liberty House, in Jersey City, N.J.  The event raised more than $30,000 in net proceeds to support the DFI Trust Stanley Merjan Civil Engineering Scholarship at City College of New York (CCNY), the newly-established Women in Deep Foundations Program and the Trust's general fund.

 

During the event, the 2014 Stanley Merjan CCNY Civil Engineering Scholarships were presented to Tal Azulay, Chen Chen, Jonathan Rosen and Minhui Weng.  

 

M. Byrl Williams

 

M. Byrl Williams, of Foundation Constructors, Inc., Oakley, Calif., was elected chair of the DFI Educational Trust Board of Trustees, beginning in January 2015. He succeeds David Coleman, who stepped down as chair and retired from the board of trustees. Williams is one of the original trustees that established the Trust in 2006.  Since then, he has served in various capacities, most recently as vice chair of the board. In addition, he has headed several board committees, including the Large Donor Committee and the Nominating Committee. Williams' fundraising efforts on behalf of the Trust are extensive and include chairing the annual DFI Trust California Golf Outing, and attracting large corporate and individual donors to establish named scholarships for the Trust. Williams is a former president of the Deep Foundations Institute (1997-1998) and a 2008 recipient of DFI's Distinguished Service Award.   

 

Joining Williams as new officers of the Trust Board are: Dan Dragone, Bauer-Pileco, as vice chair; Matthew Janes, Isherwood Associates, as treasurer; and Tracy Brettmann, A. H. Beck Foundation Company, Inc., as secretary.  

 

 

Joseph Thomas Coe, Jr., Ph.D., of Temple University, is the winner of this year's DFI Educational Trust Young Professors Paper Competition for his paper, "Comparison of Borehole Ultrasound and Borehole Radar in Evaluating the Length of Two Unknown Bridge Foundations." The award was presented at the DFI 39th Annual Conference on Deep Foundations in October 2014 in Atlanta, GA, and Dr. Coe presented his paper to conference attendees. The paper will be published in an upcoming issue of the DFI Journal.

 

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Benjamin Turner, Ph.D., candidate in geotechnical earthquake engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, is the winner of the DFI Educational Trust 2014 Student Paper Competition. His winning paper, "Evaluation of Influence on Lateral Spreading Displacement Demand for Adjacent Bridges," was presented at the DFI 39th Annual Conference on Deep Foundations in October 2014 in Atlanta, GA. The paper will be published in an upcoming issue of the DFI Journal.

 

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Frank Rausche, Ph.D., P.E., of GRL Engineers, Inc., has been selected as the DFI 2015 Osterberg Lecturer. The lecture will take place on Thursday, March 19, 2015, 7:30 a.m.- 8:30 a.m., during the International Foundations Congress and Equipment Expo (IFCEE) at the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort and Spa in San Antonio, Texas.

 

Dr. Rausche's talk, "Load Testing of Deep Foundations: Developments, Applications, Results," explores various load testing methods, their relative cost, benefits and limitations, and will attempt to explain how these testing methods can lead to a successful project. 

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