Joseph P. De Kroon, '91
Alumni Profile -- (Spring 2000 Newsletter)
“I’m exploring the use of highfidelity computerized
simulation as an alternative to physical prototypes —
‘virtual prototyping,’ it’s called.” Say
what? “Basically, I’m trying to figure out how to
design products using a virtual environment on a computer
system instead of having to make physical models,” says
Joe De Kroon, Class of 1991.
De Kroon is a research engineer, having completed his master’s
degree, and is now working toward his doctorate at Georgia
Institute of Technology, one of the top engineering schools
in the nation (ranked up with MIT, Stanford, and others).
Very few labs do what his graduate research lab does: “Metadesign.”
“It’s pretty abstract,” he confesses. “But
we’re essentially changing the way products are designed.
A lot of labs are focused on designing highly specific products,
like microchips – designing better chips, faster chips.
What we do is focus more on the design process itself –
is there a better way to be designing products? Because we
look at problemsolving in general, we can look at anything,
not just microchips.”
De Kroon’s research is currently funded by Lucent Technologies,
one of the largest and fastestgrowing telecommunications companies.
He is working on a project with Lucent’s Wireless Networks
Group, which supplies base stations for the cellular phone
industry. The base stations are those refrigeratorsized metal
boxes you might see on the side of the road that are used
as switching stations for cellular networks. As the wireless
industry continues to grow, more and more advanced wireless
technology is being demanded. The speed of designing these
metallic mazes of wiring is allimportant for the commerciallysensitive
market.
De Kroon’s work is to see whether new base stations
can be designed faster, more efficiently. The conventional
method of verifying and analyzing a new model design is to
actually build it. De Kroon, however, is exploring ways to
save time and money by verifying and analyzing designs all
on a computer. The model isn’t real, but it is so close
that it is virtually real.
To do this, De Kroon is at the cutting edge of research involving
“virtual reality” (which allows a user to interact
with a stereoscopic image of a product), and “haptic
interfaces” (which are forcefeedback devices allowing
a user to “feel” a virtual object). To De Kroon’s
knowledge, while the automotive and aerospace industry has
been using this kind of technology for the past five to seven
years – for the purpose of designing vehicles without
having to make mockups – his virtual prototyping research
is the first being done in the telecommunications industry.
De Kroon is glad to be on this end of applied science, which
is more theoretical and more inquiring into the causes of
things than in most other areas of applied science. It was
his education at the College that gave him this satisfaction.
“I really hated engineering courses at first,” he
said. “I’m sure I irritated all my teachers; I kept
asking ‘Where does that come from?’ ‘How do
we know that?’ I was just supposed to accept all the
scientific premises on faith. But TAC had prompted me to keep
looking at the causes of things.”
Was it worth going to Thomas Aquinas College before getting
his engineering degrees? “Absolutely. So many times,
in applied science, the causes seem mystical – you don’t
understand all the foundational physics behind, say, microwaves
ovens; you’re just glad you can apply the engineering
formulas to make them. But when you’re allowed to learn
the causes, you can see that science progresses stepbystep,
and you can take confidence in knowing that the particular
focus of your research is, in fact, properly focused. To me,
that way of thinking as a researcher is invaluable.”
Dr. Burt Bras, Director of Systems Realization Laboratory
where De Kroon works, says De Kroon is able to combine his
“enormous interest in computer simulation/animation with
a very practical knowledge of engineering.” Dr. Bras
praises De Kroon for his independence and initiative, noting
that his work in creating two different immersive virtual
reality set-ups is so new that the equipment vendors have
not even written drivers for them yet.
De Kroon began this research after having worked as a NASA
contractor on the International Space Station Program in Houston,
Texas. He was a member of a team that aimed at integrating
the many different functional aspects of the station. “These
were great experiences, but aerospace is not the place for
engineers to be these days,” he says, alluding to dense
government oversight and funding issues.
De Kroon expects to complete his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering
in 2002. He obtained his B.S. at Arizona State University.
Before that, he obtained certificates in motorcycle mechanics
at one of only two such institutes in the country. It had
followed his love for motorcycles that he acquired at the
College while riding in nearby hills. In deference to the
risks of his hobby, he never goes anywhere without taping
a Miraculous Medal to the gas tank. What little free time
he has he spends composing music for the piano and guitar
and in weightlifting.
A native of San Francisco, De Kroon followed his sister,
Maria (nee De Kroon) Lenzen, (’89), to the College. His
brother Paul hopes to attend this fall. He is fond of his
days at the College both personally and professionally. “I
loved the dorm life, too. I had four years of living with
some of the best friends I’ll ever have. And the school
gave me an appreciation for the true purpose of study. Sure,
in applied science you learn how to build some interesting
things. But at TAC, you learn to be a better person and there’s
no substitute for that.”
-- Qtrly Newsletter, Spring 2000
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