After 16 years as researcher and manager in the field of flight simulation, handling qualities, avionics, human factors and CNS/ATM at the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) of the Netherlands, working for the FAA and NASA, professor Hoekstra was asked to be the Dean of the Aerospace Engineering faculty of the Delft University of Technology.

After serving two terms as dean, he was appointed as chairholder CNS/ATM of the Control & Simulation group at this faculty. Apart from the awards for his research, he has also been chosen as best teacher of the faculty and is the recipient of the International Open Courseware award for multimedia usage in 2013.