The College of Engineering will honor four engineering alumni for distinguished contributions this year at the May 20 commencement ceremony. Barbara Canales, Kip McClanahan, Keith Odom and John Weinzierl will receive The University of Texas at Austin Outstanding Young Engineering Graduate award.
The College gives the award to individuals age 40 and under for distinguished contributions in professional work, community service, and service to the university’s College of Engineering.
Barbara Canales earned a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering in 1989. After graduating from law school in Houston, she became a co-owner of BNP Petroleum, a company that develops natural gas resources in southern Texas. While at BNP, she helped the company expand operations along the Padre Island national sea shore and surrounding Laguna Madre waters, and she successfully lobbied the U.S. government for a balanced approach to oil and gas development in environmentally sensitive areas.
In January 2005, Barbara started Canales Exploration LLC, a company that leases thousands of southern Texas acres, and will assist in developing their marketing prospects for natural gas, and the drilling, completion, and downstream marketing of gas products.
Her community involvement includes serving on the board of governors of the South Texas Institute for the Arts, the advisory board of UT's Marine Science Institute, and serving previously as a member of the American Cancer Society division known as VICTORY. Barbara supports the College as a Friend of Alec, and is a Life Member of the Texas Exes.
Kip McClanahan graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical and computer engineering in 1992. He has nearly 20 years of experience in management in the networking, security, communications and software industries. Most recently Kip founded GrowLabs, LLC to identify investment and operating opportunities in both early- and late-stage technology businesses
The past three Austin companies McClanahan led underwent a successful initial public offering or merger and acquisition transaction, returning nearly $800 million in realized gains to shareholders. Before founding GrowLabs, McClanahan ran 3Com’s Security Division after the company acquired his former company TippingPoint Technologies, a provider of network-based security systems for companies, government agencies, service providers and academic institutions. He previously served as president of Motive, Inc., a company that designs Internet-era software to help managers reduce overhead and optimize their ability to make product lines and services self-sustainable.
McClanahan supports Longhorn Athletics, and has been a member of the Engineering Foundation Advisory Council since 2002.
Keith Odom earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1989, with a computer engineering specialization. While starting his career at National Instruments, he completed a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering in 1991, focusing on design and computer architecture.
Odom has spent his entire career at National Instruments, holding all positions on the technical career path. He was recently named to the most prestigious technical position, R&D Fellow, where he is considered the “go to” person for all difficult technical challenges in hardware and architectures. Odom directs the company’s Architecture and Technology group, a small team of highly respected senior digital engineers that develops key new architectures. Through his leadership, National Instruments has had incredible success with application specific integrated circuit design, providing a major competitive advantage.
A member of the Friends of Alec, he has given back to the College by serving as a guest lecturer and helping with student recruitment. In his spare time, he also enjoys coaching youth sports and participating in programs to stimulate youth interest in science.
John Weinzierl earned a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering in 1990 and a master’s degree in business administration in 1998. In 1999, Weinzierl joined Natural Gas Partners (NGP), a private equity firm in the engineering industry. He helps make critical decisions on reviewing and executing investments in oil and gas production, natural gas gathering and oil field service companies. He became managing director in 2005. A registered professional engineer in Texas, Weinzierl concentrates on the company’s transaction analysis and execution, and on supporting its active-portfolio companies with such needs as corporate strategy and investment analysis.
Before joining NGP, he was a petroleum engineer at Conoco Inc. for almost six years, working in drilling and completions. He spent time in the Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Norway, designing and supervising drilling and completion operations.
Weinzierl and his family support charities that include Habitat for Humanity and the community outreach program of the Junior League of Dallas. He is a long-standing Friend of Alec and a Life Member of the Texas Exes.
Email this article to a friend
About UT's Cockrell School of Engineering:
The University of Texas at Austin's Cockrell School of Engineering ranks among the top six public engineering schools in the United States. With the nation's fourth highest number of faculty elected members of the National Academy of Engineering, the School's more than 7,000 students gain exposure to the nation's finest engineering practitioners. Appropriately, the School's logo, an embellished checkmark used by the first UT engineering dean to denote high quality student work, is the nation's oldest quality symbol. The School maintains a Web site at http://www.engr.utexas.edu