EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR UPDATE Students Are Our Future O ne of my favorite songs was made popular by Whitney Houston in 1985, though it was a cover of a George Benson hit from 1977. As I heard “The Greatest Love of All,” today on the radio, the words “I believe the children are our future; teach them well and let them lead the way…” brought to mind DFI’s growing efforts to involve students in our activities, the opportunities for them once they get involved, and conversely the benefit their involvement provides to our industry members. It’s a win-win. There are so many ways for a DFI student member to learn more about the types of careers available once they graduate and to create professional rela- tionships with leaders in the field they plan to enter. There are con- ferences, seminars, com- mittees and working groups — which create an a tmosphe re for exchange of ideas , speaking opportunities where research can be presented, the option to place resumes in the resume bank viewable by DFI’s corporate member company repre- sentatives, and connecting with a leader willing to mentor or perhaps provide an internship or a job. In 2016, DFI adjusted its membership levels to provide free membership to students studying civil engineering and construction management. That change has increased our student membership by 40%, but it seems that’s not the only reason we have more students signing up. They are becoming members by joining DFI student chapters and technical com- “Students are valuable technical committee members — they often bring enthusiasm and a willingness to volunteer for committee projects and activities.” mittees. Our committee chairs are eager to have students serve on their committees and share their research and new ideas since the work of our committees impacts the future of the industry in which students will forge their careers. Currently five percent of our student members are serving on committees and learning what the relevant topics are in each segment of the deep foundations industry. Students are valuable technical committee members — they often bring enthusiasm and a willingness to volunteer for committee projects and activities. Other ways students can get involved in DFI are by writing papers and entering them in our annual Student Paper Competition sponsored by the DFI Educational Trust or applying for one of the many scholarships the Trust offers. There’s also our Paul Debruyn Memorial Student Scholarship Fund, which provides funding to allow students to attend conferences and seminars at no cost. Though our rates for events are greatly reduced for students, the full registrations provided by the Debruyn Fund offer the students the experience of networking with industry member attendees during the social functions of the events, which is just as valuable, if not more so, as what they’ll learn in the technical sessions. At this year’s International Conference Remediation (our 41 Annual Conference) in New York City, students attending will on Deep Foundations, Seepage Control and st Theresa Engler Executive Director [email protected] get to meet an icon in our industry, George Tamaro, a former partner and current consultant for Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers and the recipient of numerous awards including DFI’s Distinguished Service Award and Legends Award. Tamaro will speak with the attending students and accompany them to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, providing insider information as a slurry wall expert involved in the building of the first World Trade Center and the rebuilding of WTC7 and the Freedom Tower (see page 37). Besides the numerous benefits student members receive by meet ing and interacting with industry members, there are also many other resources available to them such as publications like this magazine, our DFI Journal, technical manuals and conference proceedings, plus access to the OneMine online library of deep foundation and other related geo- technical papers. There are also interesting articles and discussions on our social media, so we encourage student members to follow DFI on Facebook and interact with others in the industry on LinkedIn. Students are our future, and if we teach them well at DFI about what the real world of deep foundations is all about, they will lead the way to future inno- vations and revolutionary ways to design and construct the foundations that will continue to uphold our world’s infra- structure. I encourage you to lead by example and involve a student you know in DFI’s activities. Students Can Join DFI for Free at www.dfi.org DEEP FOUNDATIONS • JULY/AUG 2016 • 9
