Our Houston SEAoT community is rife with exemplary engineers who have wonderful professional histories. They practice in all of Houston’s many industries; including petrochemical, oil and gas, transportation, healthcare, sporting facilities, academic, commercial structures, etc. This Member Spotlight seeks to honor and learn from those engineers who have helped build our Houston structural engineering community through creativity and perseverance.
Our inaugural Member Spotlight highlights Mr. Robert (Bob) E. Lanser, who many of you know for his SEAoT contributions and support. Since joining SEAoT Houston Gulf Coast in 2005, Bob has served as Treasurer for both our local chapter and the statewide association. He is also a steady and encouraging presence in our monthly meetings. Be sure to say “Hi” and shake his hand the next time you see him.
A recent high school graduate in 1970, Bob heard that The University of Texas at Austin was amazingly offering in-state tuition for 50$ a semester. In comparison The University of Illinois was offering in-state tuition for 650$ a semester. As a Texas resident this was an opportunity Bob couldn’t pass up. He visited the university and while on a campus tour Bob saw a model of the Lake Livingston dam project, which was already under construction. He was taken with the engineering work that created the 2.5-mile long reservoir and the 12-chute dam that regulated the water level. Fortuitously the line for enrolling in the Civil and Environmental Engineering program was the shortest line at the Registrar’s office, which cinched the deal. Over the next five years, as Bob studied and accumulated engineering knowledge, he grew to see his new profession as something magical; with a tool bag of math skills engineers could predict how something would behave before it was even made, and if it didn’t work on paper if wouldn’t work in real life.
Bob graduated from UT in 1975 and his first job was with the UT Facilities Planning and Construction Department. He worked part time in construction administration, primarily overseeing work on UT’s swimming center, art building, and Cockrell Hall. Noteworthy for the swimming center was the elevated pool deck that allowed installation of viewing windows so coaches could better see athlete’s form while swimming and therefore help them hone their athleticism.
Fun Trivia: if you travel to UT Austin and walk along the median on 26th street you may find “Robert Lanser” drawn into the concrete.
Bob spent 5 years with UT and then worked for a material’s testing company before making his way to Houston, following the call of the land development expansion in the 1980s. Primarily designing water and wastewater treatment facilities, Bob helped move many communities from treatment facilities offering capacities of 100,000 gallons per day to millions of gallons per day. However just a few years into this work, the mortgages in the newly developed communities became too expensive for homeowners. This slowed demand for homes and treatment facilities servicing those homes.
Although the Houston housing market slowed down in the mid 1980’s, petrochemical work was steady. Bob was hired by the Solvay Process Company Polymer Division, a global manufacturer of polyethylene and polypropylene. Solvay’s plastics supplied milk jugs for Florida’s Publix grocery stores, Pamper’s diapers, hiking boots, car gas cans, fishing reels, ketchup bottles, etc. Their chemists were among the first to create co-polymers, a blend of their polyethylene and polypropylene elements. Bob stayed with Solvay for nearly 20 years as a project engineer, helping to design and build new plants and plant expansions. In the early 2000’s BP bought Solvay and gave Bob a golden handshake.
He next went to the Port of Houston and for the next 13 years focused on implementing better security at the port. This was just after 9/11 and increased awareness of our porous waterway border motivated the installation of better security fencing, lighting, CT cameras and access control points. At the young age of 62, Bob retired from the Port of Houston, after implementing and improving each of the 4 security focus areas under his charge.
Bob didn’t retire to solitude however, instead he started his own business, REL Engineering PLLC, where he offers windstorm inspection and new design services in the Houston area.
Looking back at a long and satisfying career, he finds that that first project as a construction administrator for UT’s innovative swimming complex stands out among all his projects. Looking ahead he would encourage us all to persevere through life’s challenges and roadblocks. Each closed door led him to another satisfying life opportunity, the accumulation of which is a full life.
Life is not easy, it takes effort and a lot of hard work, but these form our character. We work in a magical industry, where innovation, creativity and determination can lead to exciting engineering accomplishments, these are the things that will attract our young generation to pursue a career in structural engineering.
We will offer Member Spotlights periodically throughout the year. If you would like to nominate an engineer for our Member Spotlight please contact: Emily McCarthy (2020 SEAoT Houston President) ermccarthy@sgh.com
