SCTE Names Young Engineer of 2008

The Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers announced that Midcontinent Communications senior radio-frequency engineer David Haigh is its recipient of the 2008 Young Engineer of the Year Award.

Haigh, 33, will receive $1,000 and an all-expenses-paid trip to the SCTE’s Conference on Emerging Technologies (ET) 2008 in Los Angeles Jan. 14–16. Multichannel News, Scientific Atlanta and SCTE are sponsors of the award, which recognizes a cable engineering professional under 35.

“David is an engineer who is always forward-thinking and innovative, always thinking outside the square and wanting to explore new, uncharted territory within the cable industry, and this is what puts him apart from others,” said Midcontinent corporate engineering manager Tom Heier, who nominated Haigh for the award.

Midcontinent, based in Sioux Falls, S.D., provides service in more than 200 communities in western Minnesota, northern Nebraska, and North and South Dakota. The company is a partnership between Midcontinent Media and Comcast.

Haigh’s cable career began in Australia in 1995 with Optus Communication as part of the team responsible for building the first cable TV system in Australia and one of the largest hybrid-fiber coax deployments in the world at the time. He moved to the United States in 2000.