John Sheppard is a corporate fellow at ARINC Incorporated and an assistant research professor in the computer science department at Johns Hopkins University. He holds a BS in Computer Science from Southern Methodist University as well as MS and PhD degrees in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins. He is internationally recognized for his research in system test and diagnosis and is also active performing research in model-based reasoning, statistical reasoning, data mining, and machine learning. He has published over 100 technical papers in conferences and journals as well as two books (one authored and one edited) in system diagnostics.

As a member of industry, Dr. Sheppard developed an adaptive, model-based diagnostic system that has been incorporated into automatic test equipment and pilot debrief systems for processing built-in test data.As part of developing the diagnostic system, Dr. Sheppard received US and international patents for a neural network that assesses the quality and sufficiency of test information. The reasoning approach used in the system was also used as significant input for the IEEE Artificial Intelligence Exchange and Service Tie to All Test Environments(AI-ESTATE) standards project. As a member of academia, Dr. Sheppard teaches courses in algorithm theory, artificial intelligence, machine learning and data mining, and evolutionary computation. He has advised several Masters students on projects ranging from theory of genetic algorithms and artificial life to robot planning and airline flight scheduling. His current academic research is focused on developing methods for learning large Bayesian models for complex system analysis.

Dr. Sheppard has been active in standards development for 15 years,having served on standards committees with the IEEE, IEC, AAR, and ARINC. He has been a member of the Computer Society Standards Activities Board since 1996 and serves as a member-at-large and official liaison to Standards Coordinating Committee 20 (SCC20) on Test and Diagnosis for Electronic Systems. He is also the Vice Chair of SCC20, past chair of the Diagnostic and Maintenance Control (DMC) subcommittee of SCC20, and current secretary of the DMC. During his tenure as chair of the DMC, he was responsible for leading the development and publication of AI-ESTATE family of diagnostics standards--IEEE Std 1232-1995, IEEE Std1232.1-1997, IEEE Std 1232.2-1998, and IEEE Std 1232-2002. He was also instrumental in the fast track of the 1995 version of IEEE Std 1232within IEC/TC93 (Design Automation) as well as the IEC dual-logo of 2002version of IEEE Std 1232. In addition, he was the technical lead for development of a new testability and diagnosability standard to replace MIL STD 2165--IEEE Std 1522-2004. Currently, he is active in the development of the IEEE P1636 (SIMICA), IEEE 1671 (ATML), and IEEE P1609(DSRC) standards. He is currently a Senior Member of the IEEE, the Computer Society, and the Standards Association.