John graduated from the University of New South Wales with the degrees of Bachelor of Engineering (Hons 1) in 1968 and Doctor of Philosophy in 1972, both in Electrical Engineering. He was most recently Master of University House at the Australian National University. He was formerly Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice President of the ANU, and Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. In the 1980s he was foundation Director of the Centre for Remote Sensing at the University of New South Wales. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia and a Life Fellow of the IEEE. John is President of the International Society for Digital Earth. His research interests are in image interpretation and imaging radar.