The Deep Foundations Institute Educational Trust has awarded five $1,750 Women in Deep Foundations (WiDF) Professional Development Grants. Grants include complimentary conference registration to the DFI’s 46th Annual Conference in Las Vegas, Oct. 12-15, and cover expenses for attending the conference.

This year’s recipients are:

• Sangeen A. Desai, deputy manager-business manager, Keller Ground Engineering, India
• Lauren Dziagwa, PE, geotechnical project engineer, American Geotechnical and Environmental Services (AGES)
• Min Liew, graduate research assistant, The Pennsylvania State University
• Abigail Stein, PE, geotechnical engineer, GEI Consultants 
• Gaby Vasquez, staff geotechnical engineer, D&S Engineering Labs

The grants will be presented during the Annual Conference at the Women in Deep Foundations (WiDF) 6th annual networking event at 6:30 p.m., Oct. 12. To register for the reception or to sponsor the event, visit www.dfi.org/Annual2021.

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

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.

The Deep Foundations Institute Educational Trust (www.dfitrust.org) is an independent, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established in 2006 as the charitable arm of the DFI. The mission of the trust is to support and encourage individuals in the fields of study related to the deep foundations industry by providing scholarships and opportunities to meet and work with deep foundations industry leaders.