DFI ACTIVITIES DFI Educational Trust Update David Coleman, Chair Dear Trust sup- porters, many thanks for your financial and volunteer sup- port in 2011. I am pleased to announce that the Trust con- tinues to grow financially. We are providing more and more educational opportunities to our student scholarship recipients and engineering students through our outreach programs and our university DFI Student Chapters. I thought for this issue it would be appropriate to focus on these accom- plishments and highlight some of our 2011 activities. I encourage you to reach out to any of our board members and provide your opinion, comment or recommenda- tion of how we might improve our mission as we prepare for the future. As my position requires, I close by asking for your contin- ued financial and volunteer support in 2012. First, here’s a summary of the Educational Trust’s Annual Gala back in November in New Jersey. Three students at the City College of New York were recipients of Stanley Merjan Awards, totaling $10,000. One, Elidion Gjaka, was born in Albania to a family that loved science, he says, and he quickly realized that the only way out of poverty was through education. He moved to New York in 2009 to pursue his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. Fulya Olgac is from Turkey. Both of her parents were teachers, and she always paid strict attention to her studies. She was accepted at one of Turkey’s best technical universities, but left to come to the U.S., where she had to learn a new language and a new culture. Olgac is now a research assistant at CCNY. The third recipient is Ronald Ademajis, a junior at the Grove School of Engineering, which is part of the Macauley Honors College. He plans to go to graduate school after college and aims to develop the practical skills necessary to succeed in the construction industry. Professor Fred Kulhawy was the speaker, and he provided an interesting and entertaining presentation titled A View of Civil Engineering as Portrayed in Postage Stamps. The Gala earned over $13,000 for the Trust’s Stanley Merjan CCNY Civil Zobenica gave a detailed presentation on the scope of the job and the challenges Skanska encountered, both with space con- straints and logistical issues. Later, the group saw casing and rebar installed and watched the grouting of a mini-caisson. All the students appreciated the tour and were very impressed. Gjaka, the scholarship winners from CCNY. Fulya Olgac Ronald Ademajis, and Elidion Mitza Zobenica of Skanska with CCNY students and other Skanska personnel Engineering Scholarship Fund. Following the formation of the scholarship in 2010, CCNY students formed a DFI Student Chapter. In December 2011, 21 engineering Theresa Rappaport, executive director of DFI, and Bob Mraz, manager of piling and wholesale pipe, Lally Pipe and Tube students from the CCNY Student Chapter visited several Skanska sites in lower Manhattan and toured 113 Nassau St. with three Skanska engineers, Project Manager Mitza Zobenica, Site Safety Director Jason Blinn and Engineer/Estimator Lloyd Scott. In Cincinnati, Ohio, fundraising for the Larry Rayburn University of Cincinnati Civil Engineering Scholarship Award is underway, led by DFI Trustee Douglas Keller. The University of Cincinnati will join Auburn University, University of California at Berkeley, the University of Illinois, Carnegie Mellon and City College of New York as university affiliates of the Trust where scholarships are awarded. DEEP FOUNDATIONS • MAR/APR 2012 • 15
