Robert Canik was born and raised on a ranch in central Texas. Despite growing up in a family of modest means, he worked summer jobs and diligently saved enough to put himself through college. In 1985, he graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, earning highest honors.
After graduation, Robert joined the startup National Instruments as a hardware design engineer. Over the course of his 31-year career, he helped transform the company from a small startup with only a handful of employees into a global organization of more than 7,500 people. By the time he retired in 2016, he was Vice President of Research and Development, leading a large team of hardware and software engineers responsible for developing innovative new products.
Throughout his career, Robert played a key role in advancing industry standards for test and measurement systems, including GPIB, VXI, and PXI—the latter of which remains a widely used standard today. Robert is the holder of multiple patents. Committed to lifelong learning, he returned to UT while working full-time and earned his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1996.
Robert also served as National Instruments’ primary liaison with the University of Texas. In that role, he championed the partnership by sponsoring student events, recruiting talented engineering graduates, and helping secure funding for the Engineering Education and Research Center, contributing to the development of its teaching and research laboratories.
In retirement, Robert continues to pursue his passions. He and his wife, Cara, have traveled to more than 50 countries, all 7 continents, and 40 U.S. states, often combining their love of travel with Robert’s enthusiasm for marathon running. He also manages the family cattle ranch, which has been in the family since the 1870s. He and Cara have five children and two grandchildren. (Cara and three of their children are also Longhorns!)
Robert and Cara remain committed to giving back. Through a personal gift to the department’s Texas Challenge Scholarship, they have helped make an engineering education more accessible for several students with financial need, creating opportunities for the next generation of engineers.
