NDSU is scheduled to host the fifth annual Red River Valley Statistical Conference Friday, May 1. A total of 27 NDSU statistics students will give oral or poster presentations about their research.

The presentations begin at 10:05 a.m. and continue through 3:50 p.m. Sessions will be held in several rooms in Morrill Hall and in Dunbar 152.

Tatjana Miljkovic, assistant professor of practice in statistics, is scheduled to give the keynote address, "Examination and Short-Term Forecasting for S&P 500 Market Using Mixtures," at 12:05 p.m. in Morrill 107.

"One goal of the conference is to highlight student research in the Department of Statistics," said Rhonda Magel, professor and department chair, noting four of the presenters are doctoral candidates, several are master's students and two will be undergraduates. "A second goal of the conference is to give students practice in giving presentations, particularly on their research."

The student presentations include a variety of topics, ranging from an analysis of different statistical models for use in clinical trials to forecasting stock prices to identifying drugs within categories associated with shorter hospital stays. Other talks will examine milk production modeling and forecasting, estimating future insurance claims and statistics in sports, among others.

As a student-focused, land-grant, research university, we serve our citizens.