Jan Fokke Agema (12 September 1919 – 23 April 2011) was a Dutch hydraulic engineer and professor at Delft University of Technology.

His father, Sibbele Agema, was born in Wirdum, and met his mother, Johanna Catharina Agema (née van Dolder), when he was billeted in her family's farmhouse in Gouwsluis, near Alphen aan den Rijn whilst he was mobilised with the Royal Netherlands Army during World War I.

[1] Agema displayed exemplary academic performance at the school, and in 1935 the school board chairman Johan van der Burgt, who had an additional role as the head of the Hoorn district of Rijkswaterstaat, arranged for the then 15-year-old Agema to commence as a trainee draftsman at the Hoorn district service.

[1][2] In 1938, Agema was transferred as an assistant draftsman to Johan van Veen at the Rijkswaterstaat Lower Rivers study service in The Hague, living in a boarding house in Scheveningen.

He spent the money that remained after paying rent on evening class lessons in mathematics, hydraulic engineering, and other subjects in preparation for the Rijkswaterstaat Technisch Ambtenaar (English: Technical Official) exams.

In early 1941, he earned a diploma as Waterbouwkundig Opzichter Zeeland (English: Zeeland Hydraulic Engineering Overseer), and in April 1941 he was transferred to Bergen op Zoom as a 3rd class overseer at the harbour works office, where he earned a PBNA Concrete Technician diploma.

Agema was one of the thousands of ex-soldiers who ignored this order, going into hiding at a farm near his parents' house in Opmeer, where he was given shelter and food in exchange for doing odd jobs.

He was able to make the first assessment of the damage and the initial restoration plan by helicopter, and as part of the recovery operations, he led the works to close breaches at Hansweert and Kruiningen.

[1][2] From 1960, Agema was employed in the Rotterdam district, where he was assigned the responsibility of designing a new harbour mouth for Hoek van Holland.

The dam, known as the Oosterscheldekering (English: Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier), had originally been designed as a fully closed structure.

[11][12] By 1976, the requirements for the design and execution of the works were fully established, creating a formidable challenge for Agema's hydrological department, which included the development of mathematical models for water movement, among other tasks.

[21][22] His work with Vrijling in this period included the development of probabilistic methods for analysis of the failure risk of armour layers in breakwaters.

In 1977, he was appointed officer in the Order of the Dutch Lion, in recognition of his works as Chief Engineer for special services at Rijkswaterstaat.