Randall James Bayer

Who is Randall James Bayer?

Randall James Bayer is an American systematic botanist, published mostly as "R.J. Bayer", who was born in Buffalo, New York, U.S.A.

He spent childhood and attended public school in East Aurora, New York. He completed his B.Sc. with major in Plant Breeding and minor in Horticulture in 1978 from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; an M.Sc. in Systematic Botany in 1980 from the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; and a Ph.D. in Systematic Botany in 1984 from the Ohio State University with a dissertation on "Evolutionary Investigations in Antennaria". His interest in the genus Antennaria was inspired through noted evolutionary botanist, George Ledyard Stebbins, who was a visiting professor at the Ohio State University in 1978-1979.

His early academic career was as an Assistant Professor of Biology and Curator of the Benedict Herbarium at University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada. In 1987 he moved to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada to take up the post of Assistant Professor of Botany and Curator of the Vascular Plant Herbarium at the University of Alberta. He was promoted to Associate Professor of Botany in 1990 and Professor of Botany in 1995.