When he was nominated for the 2013 Fourth Quarter Outstanding Employee Award, Logan Dana was an entomology Research Technologist II for the Haskell Agricultural Laboratory at Concord. In late 2013, he became the Haskell Ag Lab farm operations manager.
Nominators praised Dana for creative solutions and continuing education in his work, effective communication and team collaboration. Nominators say he graciously accepts and superbly handles requests, and that he is the unit’s go-to person and unofficial graduate student adviser.
Dana annually creates new tools for gathering data or modifies existing equipment to work more efficiently, often collaborating with technologists at other universities. He takes advantage of technical and academic educational opportunities in entomology, instrumentation and equipment, and has been first author on 17 technical journal articles.
Dana’s calm, patient and often humorous manner in addressing challenges helps maintain a high morale with colleagues and students often stressed by field research weather conditions and equipment breakdown.
Serving as the unit’s safety coordinator, Dana also was interim farm manager in 2013. Additionally he has assisted with such major projects as grain bin site preparation and construction, feedlot facility maintenance, bagging semi-loads of feed ingredients and landscaping.
Wrote another colleague: “He’s one of those people who will always come through for you.”
Award recipients receive cash awards and certificates. Application materials for these and other IANR awards are at ianr.unl.edu/staff-awards.