Students and Scholarships

2026 DVGI Student Night Scholarships and Presentations
DVGI’s next annual Student Night will be held in the early spring of 2026. During the event, select local BS, MS, and PhD students in geotechnical engineering and related fields will be recognized for their academic and research achievements with scholarship funding and opportunities to deliver PowerPoint or poster presentations. Applications for scholarships and presentation slots will open this fall.

2025 DVGI Student Night Scholarships and Presentations
DVGI’s 2024 Student Night was held on Tuesday, March 25th. The DVGI Board had the challenge of narrowing a crowded field of well-qualified candidates to select scholarship recipients. The Board extends its thanks to all this year’s applicants and congratulates the winners:

Sarah Burghardt (Villanova University)
Mohamad El Ahmad (Villanova University)
Nasraldeen Hassan (Widener University)
Jocelin Mayorga (Widener University)
Maria McNicholas (Drexel University)
Avinash Pandey (Rowan University)
Juan Zamora (Drexel University)

DVGI thanks the students who delivered presentations on their technical work to the Student Night attendees:

Reza Jebeli (University of Delaware) on effects of pore water salinity on the residual strength of kaolinite
Avinash Pandey (Rowan University) on evaluating the capability of LiDAR to detect frost heave in cold regions
Catherine Sengstock (Widener University) on developing low-carbon cementitious materials using industrial byproducts

DVGI also thanks the students who presented posters on their technical work during the Student Night reception:

Mohamad El Ahmad (Villanova University) – “Assessing the Behavior of Coastal Soils”
Sophia Lunn (University of Delaware) – “Monitoring Seasonal Variations in Temperature, Water Level, Pore Pressure, and Salinity”
Amin Nozari (University of Delaware) – “Accuracy Evaluation of UAV-Based Orthophoto Mapping in Small, Semi-Planar Areas with VCPC”
Siamak Yoosefi (University of Delaware) – “Effect of Soil Non-Linearity on the Field Behavior of Buried Pipe”

Delaware Valley Geo-Institute