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Haider and Nygaard Win Engineering Staff Awards

June 24, 2024
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Two Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering (UT PGE) staff members have won 2024 Cockrell School of Engineering Staff Excellence Awards. Academic Advising Coordinator Jaimie Haider and Lab Manager Daryl Nygaard were among the six Texas Engineering staff members recognized for exemplary performance and outstanding contributions at the award ceremony in May.

Staff Excellence Award winners Jaimie Haider and Daryl Nygaard

Haider was honored for several critical advising improvements, including eliminating “advising season” and expanding UT PGE’s First-Year Interest Group (FIG) program. Colleagues also cited her exceptional leadership, remarking that she stands by her staff, tirelessly supports them, and helps them earn their own recognition. Haider joined UT PGE in 2022, after 10 years at Texas State University. While at Texas State, she was a student development specialist, academic advisor and director of the Personalized Academic and Career Exploration (PACE) Advising Center. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi.

Nygaard was honored for his crucial work overseeing UT PGE’s research labs in both the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Building (CPE) and the Gary L. Thomas Energy Engineering Building (GLT). In his nomination, colleagues described him as “dependable, sharp, responsive, innovative, organized and creative.” Nygaard joined UT PGE as a scientific instrument maker in 2011. He ran the department’s machine shop until last year when he became lab manager. Prior to coming to UT Austin, he worked for 15 years as a machinist at Prince Manufacturing.

Haider and Nygaard join these fellow Cockrell School employees as 2024 Staff Excellence Award winners:

  • Chase Dawkins, academic advising coordinator, Biomedical Engineering
  • Randy George, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Research Building manager, Pickle Research Campus
  • Shauna Pendleton, assistant director, University of Texas Center for Space Research
  • Christopher Ruggeri, senior program coordinator, Texas Engineering Executive Education (TxEEE)

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