Rob Lake Rob Lake
Information Technology Planning and Forecasting Officer
(Retired as of August 31, 2014)
rob.lake@ualberta.ca or rob.lake.ab@gmail.com
http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~lake
Welcome to my home page! I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and I was employed at the University of Alberta for 35 years from 1979 until 2014. For the first 25 years I worked in the Department of Computing Science and for my last ten years I was employed as an Information Technology Planning and Forecasting Officer in the area of the Vice-Provost (Information Technology) within the Office of the Provost and Vice-President (Academic).

I retired at the end of August, 2014. Taking the VSP was an added bonus.

Within the Department of Computing Science, I provided web support for the department and helped coordinate the activities of our research groups with respect to the overall support in our department.

I graduated in 1975 from Ross Sheppard Composite High School. In 1979 I received a B.Sc. (Honors) in Computing Science from the University of Alberta and commenced employment in the Department of Computing Science. In 1990 I received my M.Sc. in Computing Science, also from the University of Alberta. My thesis was in the area of computer graphics and dealt with human figure animation. It involved making an articulated figure perform elementary ballroom dance patterns by applying dynamics to generate motion. I proposed and implemented a motion control model that performed interpolations along quaternion curves.

I also built the 1 to 8 piece endgame databases for the checkers playing program Chinook which, in 1994, became the first computer program to officially win a world championship in a non-trivial game of skill. This fact is recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records. So, how about a game of checkers?

For those interested, here is a list of my publications.

In my spare time, I enjoy ballroom dancing. I was a member of the University of Alberta Dance Club from 1981 until 2015 during which I served as president from 1983-86. I was also on the Board of Directors for four years with the Vinok World Dance Ensemble and served as president for two years with the Edmonton International Folk Dancers.

I'm an avid golfer and I play at the Highlands Golf Club. Although it is a frustrating game, my handicap is usually between 4 and 6. I served on the Highlands Board of Directors from 2014 to 2020 and I was the Club President for the years 2017 and 2018. I was also on the organizing committee for the University Golf Tournament from 2000-2014.

Finally, I enjoyed playing the NTN trivia game found in many bars and sports lounges throughout the city. I was the "general manager" of a team who were the Canadian champions and previously the 2nd best team in North America. The team gradually dissolved and I retired from the game about twenty years ago.

From time to time I also work on my family geneal history. So far I have trees for my Antoniuk (maternal) (gif), (pdf), Coote (paternal) (gif), (pdf), Lake (paternal) (gif), (pdf), Michajluk (maternal) (gif), (pdf), and Yurechuk (maternal) (gif), (pdf), ancestries.

For those interested, here is my on-going photo album.

I am an avid traveler and I like to shoot videos of the places I have seen. Below is a list of the main countries and cities I have visited. The most recent trips have links to the videos I have produced. Due to storage constraints, I cannot make a video link with every destination listed below. Please send an email if you would like to view a destination not linked and I will see what I can do.

[University of Alberta]
University of Alberta 		[Department of Computing Science]
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Last updated: June 7, 2024