The scholarship fund offers financial awards to civil engineering students pursuing a career in the deep foundations industry. Applicants must have a grade point average of 3.0 or higher and be enrolled in an accredited U.S. college or university. Special consideration will be given to those with a military background.

Joseph G. Burns, managing principal of Thornton Tomasetti, is slated to serve as the dinner’s guest speaker. He has more than three decades of experience in complex structural systems, including earthquake engineering and dynamic analysis. Burns is known as an advocate for deeper integration of architecture and engineering.

Named after Thomas J. Wysockey, chairman emeritus of Thatcher Foundations Inc., the fund was established in 2014 with an initial donation of $50,000 from the Thatcher Foundations, which is a part of a total pledge of $100,000.

Wysockey joined Thatcher in 1957 after graduating from The Citadel with a bachelor’s in civil engineering. He moved up from vice president, to president, to chairman and owner. He’s an active member of the industry with involvement in a number of organizations including the American Subcontractors Association, Chicago Chapter; Builders Association of Greater Chicago and the Chicagoland Construction Safety Council; Construction Advancement Foundation; DFI, Industrial Contractors and Builders Association of Indiana and more.

The DFI is an international association of contractors, engineers, academics and suppliers in the deep foundations industry with more than 3,300 members worldwide. For more information about the Deep Foundations Institute, visit www.dfi.org.