Professor Rob Allison

Interim Vice Dean

Professor Rob Allison is the Interim Vice Dean of the Lassonde School of Engineering.

Robert Allison is also a Professor of Electrical Engineering and the Associate Director of the Centre for Vision Research. He received a BASc in computer engineering from the University of Waterloo in 1991. After graduation, he worked as an electrical engineer at Atlantis Aerospace in Brampton, Canada, where he designed electronics for flight training devices. He completed a MASc in electrical engineering (biomedical engineering) from the University of Toronto before obtaining a Ph.D. specializing in stereoscopic vision from York University in 1998.

Rob works on perception of space and self-motion in virtual environments, the measurement and analysis of eye movements, and stereoscopic vision. His applied research enables effective technology for advanced virtual reality and augmented reality and for the design of stereoscopic displays. His research record illustrates leading-edge approach to current problems in vision science. He is recipient of the Premier’s Research Excellence Award from the Province of Ontario in recognition for research in human stereoscopic vision and depth perception. He has also received a McDonnell-Pew Visiting Fellowship, an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship, a Japan Society for Promotion of Science Invitation Fellowship, an Australian Research Council International Fellowship, and a York Research Chair. 

He is currently working on visual control of navigation in real and virtual environments, image quality assessment and and operational vision requirements in aviation.

He is passionate about engineering education and is an active researcher in the Virtual Reality and Perception Laboratory at Lassonde.

Professor Spiros Pagiatakis

Associate Dean, Research & Graduate Studies

Professor Spiros Pagiatakis is Lassonde’s Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Studies.

The position of Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Studies builds on the Lassonde School’s leadership in research and graduate education on campus and beyond. In his role, Professor Spiros Pagiatakis guides the School’s interdisciplinary research enterprise, international expansion and industrial partnerships. His mandate includes the development of the long-term vision of the School’s research via the formulation of a white paper on our ‘Research Strengths, Ambitions & Aspirations’ and the development of a new model for Lassonde’s graduate school.

Spiros researched and taught in Greece and China, and at the University of New Brunswick as well as York University, where he has received the Merit Award for nine consecutive years, and was most recently Chair of the Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering. A widely respected educator and innovative administrator, he has designed entire curriculums which utilize the most cutting-edge technology and learning environments. He is responsible for the new graduate school model, ensuring that truly groundbreaking work is done at Lassonde.

A former President of the Canadian Geophysical Union, Spiros’ own research concerns the Earth’s dynamics, globally and locally, seen through the lens of geodetic techniques. For a project supported by NSERC and the GEOIDE National Centre of Excellence, he is determining the glacial isostatic adjustment signature from 50 years of terrestrial gravity observations in Canada and GRACE gravity mission level-2 data.

His other current projects include: determining atmospheric properties using GPS and Low Earth Orbiting satellite missions; determining the geoid and the sea surface topography; studying the response of the Earth to ocean tide loading; and the application of spectral methods to the analyses of superconducting gravimeter, Very Long Baseline Interferometry, and GPS time series. Spiros also recently worked on a program monitoring geological CO² storage funded by Carbon Management Canada.

Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

Albert Einstein