The Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) has named Lucky Nagarajan, general manager–engineering and business development for Giken America, the new chair of the DFI Women in Deep Foundations (WiDF) Committee.

In a release, DFI says that, as an “integral” part of the Giken team, Nagarajan has managed challenging projects in the United States, Canada and South America. She has more than 15 years of experience in engineering design and business development. Prior to joining Giken America, she was with Nucor Skyline as a geotechnical engineer/project manager.

Nagarajan has been involved with the WiDF Committee since its inception and is a co-founder of the Metro NYC WiDF Chapter. That chapter has organized industry events that focus on leadership, mentoring, management and soft skill training. Recently, she has been instrumental in organizing a webinar series, “Converting Crisis into Opportunities-Different Perspectives.”

Nagarajan is also a co-chair of the DFI of India Support Committee, and recently launched a WiDF India group to encourage fellow women engineers to come together to discuss industry-related issues and support each other. In addition to her involvement with the WiDF Committee and DFI of India, she was a member of the ASHE spring seminar panel discussion on “Design Challenges in Urban Environment Today,” and has been a judge at the Future City Competition.

She succeeds Maysill Pascal, PE, senior regional engineer/sales manager for USW, a Menard Group USA Company.

The WiDF Committee is a group of women and men who advocate for retaining women in the deep foundations industry. The goal is to foster greater success and interest of professional women in the industry by promoting networking events, endorsing outreach and building mentoring relationships.

Learn more about the DFI Women in Deep Foundations Committee at www.dfi.org/commhome.asp?WIDF.

The DFI is an international association of contractors, engineers, academics and suppliers in the deep foundations industry with more than 3,500 members worldwide. For more information about the Deep Foundations Institute, visit www.dfi.org.