Professor Dave Bayer was educated at Swarthmore College as an undergraduate and subsequently earned his PhD at Harvard University in 1982 with a dissertation entitled “The Division Algorithm and the Hilbert Scheme.” He is employed as a Professor of Mathematics at Barnard College, Columbia University, was a mathematics consultant for the film “A Beautiful Mind,” the biopic of John Nash, and also had a cameo as one of the “Pen Ceremony” professors.