John is a professor at Virginia Tech, a large state university, where he uses the tools of exploration seismology to study the continental crust. He runs large field-based programs and also works on improving imaging technology. His primary focus is on tectonics, but he also does research and teaches on industry and environmental-geotechnical applications. John received his B.Sc. in 1986 in both Geology and Physics from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and his Ph.D. in 1993 in Geophysics from the University of British Columbia. He did a postdoc at Stanford University and the USGS in Menlo Park before moving to Virginia Tech in 1996 and eventually becoming a US citizen. John teaches introductory geology for engineers, and senior and graduate courses on seismology, tectonics, and inversion. He is currently leading an effort to completely revise VT's undergraduate geosciences curriculum.
