The DFI Educational Trust announces the establishment of the Thomas Wysockey Civil Engineering Scholarship Fund, which will provide scholarships to civil engineering students attending any U.S. college or university. The fund was established through a generous $50,000 donation from Thatcher Foundations, Inc., Gary, IN. The company has pledged an additional $50,000 over the next five years.
A fundraising drive for the scholarship fund will officially start at a dinner on August 27 at the Union League Club of Chicago. Special guest speaker is Clyde N. Baker, Jr., P.E., S.E., of GEI Consultants. Baker has served as geotechnical engineer or consultant on many of the tallest buildings in the world, including Chicago’s iconic Willis Tower (Sears Tower), Trump Tower, John Hancock and Amoco buildings; the Petronas Towers (Malaysia); 101 Financial Center (Taiwan); Burj Khalifa (Dubai), Doha Convention Center and Tower (Qatar); and Incheon 151 (Korea).
The fund honors Thomas J. Wysockey, chairman emeritus of Thatcher Foundations, Inc. A 1953 graduate of The Citadel with a B.S. in civil engineering, Wysockey joined Thatcher in 1957 and served as vice president, president and, most recently, chairman and owner. His commitment to the industry is evident by his active involvement in several industry associations including as board member of American Subcontractors Association (ASA), Chicago Chapter; director at the Builders Association of Greater Chicago and the Chicagoland Construction Safety Council; trustee of the Construction Advancement Foundation; trustee of the Deep Foundations Institute; president of the Industrial Contractors and Builders Association of Indiana; board member of the Society of American Military Engineers; and member of the Chicago Committee on High Rise Buildings. He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the ASA, Chicago Chapter.
The first recipient of a $5,000 scholarship is Sebastian Villa, an undergraduate student of Civil Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA. A former United States marine, Villa’s research has focused on induced seismicity in energy technologies. The award will be presented to Villa at the DFI 39th Annual Conference on Deep Foundations in Atlanta, GA, in October.
Michael Wysockey of Thatcher Foundations, and a member of the DFI Board of Trustees, is chair of the fundraising drive.
For more information on the fund and the fundraising dinner, please contact the DFI Educational Trust at staff@dfi.org or 973-423-4030.
