David A. Mix Barrington

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I am Professor at the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

My primary research area is computational complexity, particularly boolean circuits, automata, and logic. Here is a list of my major publications -- a few have PDF versions and I plan to make more available as I get around to it.

Until the summer of 2022, I was Associate Chair of the Faculty for Academics in the new College of Information and Computing Sciences, having held a similar position in the Computer Science Department and the School of Computer Science since the fall of 2011. For several years before that I was Chief Undergraduate Advisor, and I am still a good source for academic advice in the department, along with individual faculty advisors, the CICS advising staff, Undergraduate Program Director Andrew Lan, and Associate Dean Jack Wileden.

Contact Info:

Course Web Sites:

Here is some information on an undergraduate textbook I have written, called Discrete Mathematics: A Foundation for Computer Science, published by Kendall Hunt. Portions of this text have been used in COMPSCI 250 since Spring 2006. For Fall 2025 the first edition of the entire book is available here, and COMPSCI 250 uses Chapters 1-4, 5, 9, 14, and 15. The CMPSCI 240 portions were used several times many years ago, most recently by Prof. McGregor in Fall 2011, and a mostly-complete version was used for a summer 2023 offering of COMPSCI 240 by me.

Here are some lists of undirected graphs with various numbers of vertices.

I'm a member of the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, where I have led and co-led several worship services and served a term on the Board of Trustees. Here is a page of links to material on all those services. My most recent summer service was called Keeping Score on 4 August 2019. My other most recent services have been Who Knows Where the Time Goes? on 9 July 2017, In the Autumn of Our Life on 26 July 2015, and "I Love You All, Everything" on 23 June 2013. On 11 December 2011 I led my first "regular-season" service, co-created with Mike Nagy, entitled "What is UU Music?".

My wife Jessica Mix Barrington has posted some fine pictures from her 2005 trip to Italy here.

I was part of a group that created the North Amherst Community Farm, and thus preserved farming on most of a 38-acre tract near my house.

I am a co-author of a collaborative alternate history, For All Nails, extending For Want of a Nail by Robert Sobel. More information, most of it writen by my For All Nails collaborator Johnny Pez, is available at the Sobel Wiki, with an encyclopedic depiction of the alternate world of Sobel's book, and a now-complete archive of For All Nails material.

I'm a member of (and was on the board for 2020-23) Valley Light Opera, and performed in the choruses of Die Fledermaus in November 2022 and Iolanthe in November 2023. This November I will be in The McAdo, a Scottish-dress version of The Mikado. I sang in all sixteen fall productions from 2003 through 2018, usually in the chorus, including H.M.S. Pinafore (2003 and 2013), Ruddigore (2004), Lehar's The Merry Widow (2005, Pritschisch), The Gondoliers (2006, Annibale) The Mikado (2007), Princess Ida (2008), The Pirates of Penzance (2009), Iolanthe (2010), The Sorcerer (2011), Patience (2012), and The Yeomen of the Guard (2014), Brigadoon (2015, Archie Beaton), Ruddigore (2016), My Fair Lady (2017), and The Gondoliers (2018). In March 2012 I participated in the chorus of VLO's concert staging of the rarely-performed opera Haddon Hall by Sydney Grundy and Sir Arthur Sullivan. Finally, in April 2013, December 2013, and December 2017 I sang one of the Jurymen in VLO's Trial By Jury.

I'm also a member of (and formerly on the board of) the Hampshire Shakespeare Company, which has resumed post-COVID with one production of Macbeth in July 2023. In the summer of 2017 I played Polonius in both Hamlet and Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. The productions are at the Arthur Kinney Renaissance Center just north of the UMass campus. In 2016 I played Seyton (who was also the Porter) in Macbeth. In the summer of 2009 I played Westmoreland and Glendower in Henry IV: Part I. For the latter part I learned both how to pronounce some Welsh and how to call spirits from the vasty deep. In the summer of 2010 I played Gonzalo in The Tempest, in the summer of 2011 I played Autolicus (and Archidamus) in The Winter's Tale, in the summer of 2012 I was in the ensemble performing As You Like It, in 2013 I played Antonio in Much Ado About Nothing, in 2014 I played Cicero and Cinna the Poet in Julius Caesar, and in 2015 I played the Host of the Garter in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

My earlier HSC roles were in As You Like It (2008, Adam), King Lear (2007, Burgundy, Ensemble), A Comedy of Errors (2007, Egeon), Macbeth (2006, the Doctor), Julius Caesar (2005, Cobbler, Metellus Cimber, Ensemble), A Midsummer Night's Dream (2005, Egeus, Philostrate), Love's Labors Lost (2003, Nathaniel), and The Winter's Tale (2002, Shepherd).

I was co-chair (with Prof. Neil Immerman) of local arrangements for the Nineteenth Annual IEEE Conference on Computational Complexity, held in Amherst 21-24 June 2004. Here is the local arrangements page with information about the conference, a detailed program, and a page of photos of scenic Amherst and vicinity.

My occasional political blogging can be found at the now-defunct Blue Mass Group.

Some sites I read far too regularly:

Coming soon (?) -- a list of books I often recommend to people. It will start with the novel A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth.

There are more things that ought to be on this site but who am I trying to kid...

Last modified 6 September 2025