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Award Papers

The DFI Educational Trust awards an annual recognition for outstanding technical papers submitted to DFI’s Paper Competitions in the category “student paper award” and “young professor paper award”. Runner up papers, and other outstanding submissions not selected as award winners may be given an honorable recognition. All award papers are published in the DFI Journal and undergo and independent review process in addition to the review and selection process of the competition.

Editors Choice papers are papers selected by the editorial board for a special recognition. Editorial Choice papers are chosen annually. 

Student Paper Competition Award Papers

Award Year	Authors	Paper Title	Affiliation
2020	Rabie Farrag	SHEAR DEMANDS OF ROCK-SOCKETED PILES SUBJECT TO CYCLIC LATERAL LOADING	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE
2019	ABIGAIL H. BATEMAN and JAMIE J. CRISPIN	THEORETICAL “T-Z” CURVES FOR PILES IN RADIALLY INHOMOGENEOUS SOIL	UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL, BRISTOL, U.K.
2018	ALEXANDRE P.R.P. ALMEIDA	STATISTICAL EVALUATION OF DESIGN METHODS FOR MICROPILES IN ONTARIO SOILS	RYERSON UNIVERSITY
2017	SARAH MOBLEY, P.E., AND KELLY COSTELLO, E.I.	THE EFFECT OF SLURRY TYPE ON DRILLED SHAFT COVER QUALITY	UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
2016	YOUSSEF BOUGATAYA	REGION-SPECIFIC CALIBRATION OF RESISTANCE FACTORS FOR USE WITH STATIC AND WAVE EQUATION ANALYSES OF DRIVEN PILES	OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
2015	KEVIN JOHNSON	ANALYZING THERMAL INTEGRITY PROFILING DATA FOR DRILLED SHAFT EVALUATION	UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
2014	BENJAMIN TURNER	PILE PINNING AND INTERACTION OF ADJACENT FOUNDATIONS DURING LATERAL SPREADING	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
2013	HESSAM YAZDANI	OPTIMIZATION OF PILED-RAFT FOUNDATIONS CONSIDERING SOIL-PILE-RAFT INTERACTIONS	UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
2012	HAIJIAN FAN	PERFORMANCE-BASED RELIABILITY DESIGN FOR DEEP FOUNDATIONS USING MONTE CARLO STATISTICAL METHODS	UNIVERSITY OF AKRON
2011	FAWAD NIAZI	AXIAL PILE DISPLACEMENT EVALUATIONS FROM SEISMIC PIEZOCONE DATA AND BACK-ANALYSIS OF LOAD TESTS	GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
2010	JEREMY KRESS	ANALYSIS OF PILE BEHAVIOUR IN GRANULAR SOILS USING DEM (published in DFI conference proceedings)	NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
2009	PAUL DOHERTY	CYCLICAL AXIAL LOADING OF OFFSHORE PILES-AN ISSUE OF CONCERN?	UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
2008	THOMAS L. VANDE VOORT	DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, AND TESTING OF A PRECAST UHPC PILE (published in DFI conference proceedings)	IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
2007	EHAB S. SHATNAWI	TRANSVERSE ISOTROPY EFFECTS ON P-Y CURVES FOR ROCK	UNIVERSITY OF AKRON
2006	JAMES A. SCHNEIDER	IMPACT OF OFFSHORE SITE INVESTIGATION PRACTICE ON RELIABILITY OF AXIAL PILE DESIGN IN SILICEOUS SANDS (published in DFI conference proceedings)	UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
2005	EMRE BIRINGEN	THE EFFECTS OF CYLINDRICAL PILE INSERTION ON THE VERTICAL STIFFNESS AND STRENGTH OF THE SURROUNDING SOIL (published in DFI conference proceedings)	UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
2004	MARTINA BALIC	DYNAMIC CHARACTERIZATION OF DRILLED SHAFTS ON DOREMUS AVENUE BRIDGE (published in DFI conference proceedings)	RUTGERS UNIVERSITY
2003	GARY WEINSTEIN	THE MICROPILE NETWORK: PRACTICE PRECEDES THEORY (published in DFI conference proceedings)	POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY

Young Professor Paper Competition Award Papers

Award Year	Authors	Paper Title	Affiliation
2020	ALEJANDRO MARTINEZ	SKIN FRICTION DIRECTIONALITY IN MONOTONICALLY- AND CYCLICALLY-LOADED BIO-INSPIRED PILES IN SAND	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS
2019	None Awarded
2018	ALESSANDRO F. ROTTA LORIA, PH.D., P.E.	PERFORMANCE-BASED DESIGN OF ENERGY PILE FOUNDATIONS	SWISS FEDERAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY and NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
2017	ARASH KHOSRAVIFAR, PH.D., P.E.	MODIFIED DESIGN PROCEDURES FOR BRIDGE PILE FOUNDATIONS SUBJECTED TO LIQUEFACTION-INDUCED LATERAL SPREADING	PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY (PSU)
2015	AARON S. BRADSHAW	PILE LOAD TRANSFER FROM STATIC LOAD TEST INVERSION	UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND
2014	JOSEPH THOMAS COE, JR.	COMPARISON OF BOREHOLE ULTRASOUND AND BOREHOLE RADAR IN EVALUATING THE LENGTH OF TWO UNKNOWN BRIDGE FOUNDATIONS	TEMPLE UNIVERSITY
2013	ARMIN STUEDLEIN	FACTORS AFFECTING RELIABILITY-BASED SERVICEABILITY LIMIT STATE DESIGN OF AUGERED CAST-IN-PLACE PILES IN COHESIONLESS SOILS	OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY (OSU)
2012	JOHN McCARTNEY and KYLE MURPHY	SEASONAL STRAIN DISTRIBUTIONS IN FULL SCALE ENERGY FOUNDATIONS	UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER
2011	ANNE LEMNITZER and LEONARDO MASSONE	IMPACT OF SHEAR-FLEXURE INTERACTION ON P-Y CURVES OF PILE FOUNDATIONS	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE
2010	ANNE LEMNITZER	LATERAL LOAD TESTING OF PILE FOUNDATIONS	CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY FULLERTON
2009	DEBRA LAEFER	IMPACT OF CLAY ON EARLY JET GROUTING STRENGTH (published in DFI conference proceedings)	UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN
2008	LANCE A. ROBERTS	LRFD FOR DEEP FOUNDATIONS: REPLACING THE TRADITIONAL FACTOR OF SAFETY IN DESIGN (published in DFI conference proceedings)	SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF MINES AND TECHNOLOGY
2006	THOMAS J. WEAVER	INCREASING LATERAL PILE STIFFNESS THROUGH LIMITED SOIL IMPROVEMENT (published in DFI conference proceedings)	UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO
2005	MONICA PREZZI	OVERVIEW OF CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN TECHNOLOGIES OF AUGER CAST-IN-PLACE AND DRILLED DISPLACEMENT PILES (published in DFI conference proceedings)	PURDUE UNIVERSITY