The new fund has been established to provide scholarships to engineering students attending any US college or university. The endowment was established through a generous $50,000 National Partner Grant from the Terracon Foundation. The Foundation's pledge will be used to annually award a $2,000 scholarship.

The Terracon Foundation encourages employees to submit grant requests each year for organisations focused on education and the built and natural environment. Andrew Verity, national account manager for Terracon's transportation and infrastructure sector and member of the DFI Educational Trust Board of Trustees, championed the grant application.

"As a trustee and advocate for the DFI Educational Trust, I was honoured to recommend the organisation for a Terracon Foundation grant," said Verity.

"The Trust is committed to supporting students in the fields of study related to the deep foundations industry by providing scholarships and opportunities to meet and work with deep foundations industry leaders."

"DFI is extremely thankful for the Terracon Foundation's support of the DFI Educational Trust," said Theresa Engler, executive director of DFI. "The future of our industry depends on encouraging promising young engineers to consider careers in the deep foundations construction field. Through the generous support of DFI member companies such as Terracon, the DFI Educational Trust has awarded more than $1,200,000 in scholarships to more than 300 students in fields of study related to the deep foundations industry."

Several DFI Educational Trust Scholarships, including the Terracon Consultants Scholarship, will be awarded this year through the Trust's At-Large Scholarship programme.