Student Paper Competition Grant

Student Paper Competition Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Deep Foundations Institute (DFI)
Amount: US $1,000
Last Updated: January 02, 2026

Summary

The Student Paper Competition, organized by the Deep Foundations Institute, invites graduate and undergraduate engineering and construction students to submit papers. All submitted abstracts will be included, and winning authors receive feedback on their drafts. The contest winner will attend the DFI Annual Conference, with expenses covered, and both the winner and runner-up will have their papers published in conference proceedings. Topics include risk assessment, seismic design, and innovations in deep foundations.

Overview

Note: Abstracts are due at the "Pre-proposal" deadline listed above. Draft papers are due at the "Full proposal" deadline. Deep Foundations Institute and the DFI Educational Trust annually hold a Student Paper Competition, which is open to graduate and undergraduate students of engineering and construction. All students with abstracts submitted will be included in the paper competition, unless the subject matter is deemed inappropriate. Papers will be judged based on their submitted drafts. Comments will be offered to the winning paper author for preparation of the final version. The individual contest winner will be invited to attend the DFI Annual Conference on Deep Foundations to present her/his paper. Conference registration, two nights of lodging and a $1,000 stipend for travel expenses will be provided to the winner. Both the winner and first runner-up will have their papers published in the conference proceedings and receive a library of up to 20 DFI publications and a gratis two-year Individual Membership in DFI. Papers are solicited on topics relating to deep foundations design and construction as suggested below. Papers on innovations and advancements that address performance based design and construction of foundations subject to increasingly challenging structural demands are specifically encouraged for this year’s competition. Risk Assessment and MitigationLessons Learned (Case Histories/Innovations/Forensic Work)Seismic Design/Soil Structure Interaction/Lateral LoadingPerformance Based Deep Foundation DesignGround ImprovementInnovation Techniques for Earth Retention and StabilizationAdvancements in Instrumentation and MonitoringAnalysis, Design and Construction for Extreme EventsMega Projects (Projected Work/Risk Mitigation/Contractual Aspects)Constructability Issues and Design AspectsOther Deep Foundations-Related Topics

Eligibility

We've imported the main document for this grant to give you an overview. You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. The criteria for entering this competition are as follows:Student must be enrolled in an accredited college or university in an undergraduate or graduate program.Focus of study must be engineering/construction/geological sciences.Paper must be based on student's own work, and in her/his own writing.Paper must be primarily concerned with the design and construction of deep foundations/excavations.