We have reached a time in history where communication across limitless distances is practically free. Want to talk to your friend across the world? No problem, just Skype them, or perhaps Facetime, even WhatsApp. Point being the choices are abundant. None of this would have been possible, however, if not for Marian R. Croak. Often described as a soft-spoken introvert, pioneer of voice over IP, Marian Croak’s action spoke much louder than any words ever could.
A born engineer, Marian R. Croak was not like other girls. Instead of opting to learn cooking, she was the house fixer – always the first to make herself available if any appliance in the house needed fixing – be it the dishwasher or stove – Marian wanted a go at it all. Anytime a repairman was needed in the house, Marian became his/her shadow, always following, always observing.
Any typical household in the 60s would have found this behavior abhorrent but Marian’s parents weren’t typical parents – they supported her every step of the way, even when she quit Catholic School to pursue education leaning towards science in New York City’s public schools. Her dad even built her a chemistry set in the basement.
After school, Marian Croak attended Princeton University followed by USC for graduate school – where she earned a PhD in quantitative analysis (also known as data science) and social psychology.
Dr. Marian started work at AT&T at Bell Labs in 1982, where she would break the norm (of focusing on voice technology), instead opting to favor messaging. She moved up in the company, into data services and networking in the 1990s. During this time, she started directing her focus towards TCP/IP, also known as Internet Protocol Suite, instead, believing it to be the way forward. She even managed to convince the executive of the importance of the internet protocol suite, despite the technology still lacking.
Marian was eventually tasked to manage a group of more than 2,000 engineers when AT&T merged the internet protocol and voice networking teams – with Marian at the helm. During this time, she along with her team would go on to make advances in voice over internet protocol that would change the course of history. In short, voice over internet protocol (VOIP) is a technology that allows phones to make calls using the internet – this applies for both verbal and visual communication – making it perhaps the biggest leap in communication since the invention of the telephone.
If her jaw dropping achievements in voice over internet protocol weren’t enough, In the early 2000s when text messaging was still in the pipelines, AT&T partnered with American Idol to implement a text-based voting system designed by Dr. Marian and her team. This enabled countless people to learn how to text, when not many knew how. This voting system would come in handy in a much more profound way in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. Marian realizing the potential of her system, tweaked it to allow people to donate for relief efforts through text messaging – with the money given being added to next month’s phone bill. It was called Text to donate which has become a reliable and efficient way of donating money. It was also used successfully for relief efforts following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
After leaving AT&T, she joined Google as Vice President of Engineering (a post she still holds till this day). She was one of the people who led the service expansion into markets project, she was also manager of the team that developed initial communications technology for Project Loon (a project that focuses on extending coverage using balloons). One of her biggest achievements so far has been implementing Wi-Fi throughout India’s railway system, a task that should never be underestimated given India’s extreme population density and harsh weather conditions.
Marian R Croak was inducted into the hall of fame for Women in Technology International in 2013. Along with her long list of accomplishments, she is also part of the board of Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Center.
Marian Croak’s achievements are perhaps best summed up by herself; when asked the question, what invention are you most proud of, she responded “Especially during the pandemic, I think people have appreciated Voice over IP technology. So I think, you know, that’s, that’s been interesting to watch how easily people have been able to continue communicating even though they can’t be physically close to each other. The text-to-donate has just taken on a life of its own.”