The Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) Educational Trust announces that the first John O’Malley Scholarship has been awarded to Jennifer Kubeczko, who is pursuing an M.S. in geotechnical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. The award is in the amount of $5,000.
Kubeczko earned a B.S. 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.
“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.”
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 exemplary 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. Donations to the John O’Malley Scholarship Fund can be made online at www.dfitrust.org.
