Professor Sterkenburg was born and raised in The Netherlands. He served in the Royal Netherlands Navy from December 1979 till June 1999. From June 1996 till June 1999 he was stationed at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida, where he served in a US NAVY Personnel Exchange Program. Professor Sterkenburg started teaching at Purdue University in 1999 and has taught courses in the Aeronautical Engineering Technology (AET) program. Professor Sterkenburg is an author or co-author of 10 text books and he published over 60 papers in national and international journals and conference proceedings.