DFI Educational Trust Awards Scholarships at University of Illinois

By TBM News June 13, 2017

The Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) Educational Trust recently awarded several scholarships to civil engineering students focusing on geotechnical and/or environmental engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The scholarships were awarded during the annual scholarship ceremony of the College of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

The 2017 recipients of the Charles J. Berkel Memorial Scholarship were University of Illinois students Tomasz Rutkowski, Emiliano Alvarez and Joseph Binkowski. The awards were presented by DFI Educational Trust board member, Rudy Frizzi, of Langan Engineering and Environmental Services. The scholarship is named in memory of Charles J. Berkel, chairman of the board of Berkel & Company Contractors Inc., and a graduate of the University of Illinois. Berkel generously committed $1 million to the DFI Educational Trust to create this scholarship endowment fund. Currently four universities receive $12,500 annually from the Scholarship Fund: University of California at Berkeley, University of Illinois, Auburn University in Alabama and the University of Houston.

The 2017 recipient of the Dennis J. Leary Memorial Scholarship was University of Illinois student, Roland Adrian. The award was presented by Alan Poeppel of Langan. The scholarship is named for Dennis J. Leary, a partner at Langan and a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The scholarship is part of the Trust’s Langan Engineering and Environmental Services Legacy Fund, which was established in 2015 with a $200,000 donation from Langan Engineering & Environmental Services and an additional contribution of more than $100,000 generously made by many principals of Langan.