John Callister's current interests lie in combining business and engineering topics to create new courses in entrepreneurship for engineering students. Specific topics of interest are creativity and innovation in High-technology firms, technology forecasting, and the modeling of business decisions. Entrepreneurship is a relatively young field, and he's examining several research questions for their potential for future work

Callister joined the Cornell faculty in 1999. He holds a joint academic position as lecturer in the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the School of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at Cornell. He was an automotive engineer at General Motors from 1985 to 1993, and taught at Tri-State University from 1996 to 1998. He is also the co-founder and vice-president of Foxdale, Inc., an equipment leasing firm in the blown-film polymer industry. He is an active participant in Cornell's Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise Program, and is a member of the American Society of Engineering Educators and the Academy of Management.