Stationed in Europe during World War II, he conducted research and development related to radar, before returning to California to complete a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Stanford University.
[1] During the 1950s, Noe served as the assistant director of Engineering at Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International), during which time he led the technical team for the Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting (ERMA) project.
In the early 1980s, Noe directed the Eden Project, the first recipient of the National Science Foundation's Coordinated Experimental Research Program award, which brought U.W.
He remained active in his department as a professor emeritus and in other aspects of his life; in his late seventies, he and his wife trekked approximately 100 miles (160 km) across the Basque Country.
On November 12, 2005, Noe died from peritoneal mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos that attacks the lining of the abdomen.