Biographical Sketch

Dr. John Sheppard is the RightNow Technologies Distinguished Professor in Computer Science at Montana State University and an Associate Research Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University. Recently, he was elected as an IEEE Fellow "for contributions to system-level diagnosis and prognosis." Prior to joining Hopkins, he was a Fellow at ARINC Incorporated in Annapolis, MD where he worked for almost 20 years. Dr. Sheppard performs research in Bayesian classification, factorial hidden Markov models, recurrent neural networks, and reinforcement learning. In addition, Dr. Sheppard is active in IEEE Standards activities. Currently, he serves as a member of the IEEE Computer Society Standards Activities Board and is the Vice Chair of IEEE Standards Coordinating Committee 20 on Test and Diagnosis for Electronic Systems. He has served as co-chair of the Diagnostic and Maintenance Control Subcommittee of SCC20 and as an official US delegate to the International Electrotechnical Commission's Technical Committee 93 on Design Automation.

Education

• BS, Computer Science (magna cum laude), Southern Methodist University, 1983
• MS, Computer Science, The Johns Hopkins University, 1990
• PhD, Computer Science, The Johns Hopkins University, 1997

Appointments

• RightNow Technologies Distinguished Professor in Computer Science, Montana State University
• Associate Research Professor, Department of Computer Science, The Johns Hopkins University
• Lecturer, Computer Science Program, Engineering and Applied Science Programs for Professionals, The Johns Hopkins University

Professional Activities

• IEEE Fellow
  • IEEE Computer Society
  • IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society
  • IEEE Standards Association
• IEEE Computer Society Liaison to SCC20
• Member-At-Large, IEEE Computer Society Standards Activities Board
• Vice Chair, IEEE SCC20
• Secretary, IEEE SCC20, Diagnostic and Maintenance Control Subcommittee
• Technical Program Chair, IEEE AUTOTESTCON 2001 and 2007
• Technical Program Chair, IEEE International Workshop on System Test and Diagnosis, 1998-2000
• Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement
• Associate Editor, Journal of Electronic Testing: Theory and Applications

Research Interests

• Machine Learning
• Data Mining
• Bayesian Networks
• Neural Networks
• Markov Models
• Reinforcement Learning
• System-Level Fault Diagnosis
• System-Level Fault Prognosis
• Measurement Uncertainty

Courses Taught

• Montana State University
• CS 436: Artificial Intelligence
• CS 500: Seminar in Machine Learning
• CS 513: Computational Research Topics (Structured Probabilistic Models)
• Johns Hopkins University
• 600.335/435: Artificial Intelligence (Homewood)
• 600.475: Machine Learning (Homewood)
• 600.735: Seminar in Machine Learning (Homewood)
• 605.421: Foundations of Algorithms (EPP)
• 605.445: Artificial Intelligence (EPP)
• 605.746: Machine Learning and Data Mining (EPP)
• 605.747: Evolutionary Computation (EPP)

Current Graduate Students

• Anthony Arnone (MS Advisee)
• Stephyn Butcher (PhD Advisee)
• Patrick Donnelly (PhD Advisee)
• Brian Haberman (PhD Committee)
• Benjamin Mitchell (PhD Advisee)
• Hasari Tosun (PhD Advisee)
• Scott Wahl (PhD Advisee)
• Bob Wall (PhD Committee)

Prior Graduate Students

• David Albert (MS, 1999)
• Stephyn Butcher (MS, 2006)
• Patrick Donnelly (MSE, 2008)
• James Grantham (MS, 2007)
• Brian Howard (MS, 2003)
• Benjamin Mitchell (MSE, 2008)
• Rashad Moore (MS, 2003)
• Adam Peterson (MS, 2002)
• Ramendra Ramendra (MSE, 2008)
• Scott Raymond (MS, 2002)
• Chuck Robertson (MSE, 2009)
• Shen Wan (MS Committee, 2008)
• Mike Waters (MS, 1999)