The Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) Educational Trust has awarded its first ever John O’Malley Scholarship to Jennifer Kubeczko. She is pursuing an master’s degree in geotechnical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.  The award is in the amount of $5,000.

“I enjoy the dynamic thinking that is involved in foundation design due to the variability of the soils in respect to depth and location,” Kubeczko wrote in her application. “I find it fascinating that the substructure of a building can be the same no matter if it’s on one side of town or the other, but that the foundation design of a building could vary from one side of the street to another.”

Kubeczko earned a bachelor’s degree in civil and materials engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Following graduation, she worked as a project engineer at Pioneer Environmental Services on both geotechnical engineering projects and construction material testing services.

The John O'Malley Scholarship Fund was established with a generous donation and pledge of $100,000 from Case Foundation Company to fund a scholarship in honor of O’Malley, past president of the company, for his 40 years of service and leadership to the construction industry. The fund awards scholarships each year to undergraduate and graduate civil engineering students who have financial need and an interest in the deep foundations industry.

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.