work of DFI. This year’s awards were presented to Gerald Verbeek of Allnamics Pile Testing Experts BV; David Paul, P.E., of Paul GeoTek Engineering; Karen Dawson, P.E., of Jacobs; and Matt Conte of the Conte Company (see details on page 75). And the Winner Is… Winners of DFI’s annual awards were celebrated at the Awards Banquet on Thursday evening. HDR accepted the 2019 Outstanding Project Award (OPA) on behalf of the team of HDR, PCL Civil Constructors and North Carolina Department of Transportation for the driven pile foundation design for the Marc Basnight Bridge, which replaced the 50+ year old Herbert C. Bonner Bridge on N.C. Highway 12 on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The OPA winning project was the cover story in the Sept/Oct issue of this magazine. Rick Deschamps, Ph.D., P.E., of Nicholson Construction, presented the 2019 Distinguished Service Award (DSA) to his former colleague Thomas D. Richards, Jr., PE, D.GE, retired chief engineer for Nicholson Construction. Deschamps shared a few personal stories and recapped Richards’ dedication, integrity, engineering prowess, volunteerism and many contri- butions made to the industry and to the engineering profession. The WiDF Committee presented five professional development grants to women involved in design and/or construction of deep foundations. The grants included free conference registration and covered related expenses for attending the conference. The recipients were Tugce Baser, Ph.D., assistant professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC); Sayantani Ghosh, EIT, senior staff engineer at Langan Engineering and Environmental Services; Amanda Parry, geotechnical engineer at GEI Consultants; Sherry Pirzadeh, P.E., design engineer at Menard Group USA; and Adeleine Tran, P.E., geotechnical engineer at Jacobs Engineering Group. The 2019 Student Paper Competition winners are Abigail H. Bateman and Jamie J. Crispin, from the University of Bristol, Bristol, U.K. (see page 33). Their winning paper, “Theoretical “t-z” Curves for Piles in 26 • DEEP FOUNDATIONS • NOV/DEC 2019 Tom Richards (back row, fifth) celebrates being honored with the DFI Distinguished Service Award with his family, friends and Nicholson colleagues. Radially Inhomogeneous Soil,” describes the development and evaluates the use of a radial inhomogeneity correction factor for selected constitutive models, and will be published in an upcoming DFI Journal. More Winners Congratulations to all those who partici- pated in the DFI Educational Trust’s 5K Fun Run and Walk. The men’s winner was Herald Wattenberg, PVE Equipment USA, with a time of 20:07. The women’s winner was Jami Klomp, Hardman Construction, with a time of 24:20 (see page 69). Rutherford, Iowa State University; and 3 place – Colin Connor, Sunbelt Rentals. Win- ners received American Express gift cards. Dr. Zia Zafir, Kleinfelder; 2 place – Cassie rd bitor Photo Scavenger Hunt were: 1 place – nd Winners of the new Mobile App Exhi- st professionals at DFI’s career fair on Wednesday, October 16, as well as to learn about the deep foundations industry during the technical presentations and networking events, and in the Exhibit Hall with over 150 companies showcasing the latest products and services. A tour of Chicago’s engineering and architectural sites was also a feature of the program, along with a scavenger hunt through downtown Chicago. Exhibition More than 150 companies exhibited their products and services at the conference. The exhibit hall was center stage for networking activity, the welcome reception, and Expo Sessions presented by DFI’s Manufacturers, Suppliers and Service Providers Committee. th Student Activities Program Keeping with its mission of bringing together multidisciplined individuals and organizations, DFI again offered an exciting Student Activities Program for under- graduate and graduate students, which was chaired by May ElKhattab, P.E., ENV SP of Arup. Dozens of students took the opportunity to network with industry The 44 Annual Conference was a resounding success and has set the bar for another outstanding event next year at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, from October 13-16, 2020 (see page 57). Visit www.dfi.org/Annual2019 to view more photos and videos from the event. Photos by Chicago Corporate Photography & Video and Herb Engler.
