An international conference "Statistics: Reflections on the Past and Visions for the Future" will be held March 16-19, 2000 at the University of Texas - San Antonio. Although the meeting is in honor of the 80th birthday of C. R. Rao, the primary focus of the conference will be to provide a forum for participants to meet and discuss the changing face of statistical research. The topics will include multivariate analysis, environmental and ecological statistics, biostatistics, genetics, image processing and other contemporary research areas that reflect the enormous contributions of C. R. Rao to the field. The meeting encourages students and young researchers to engage in fruitful dialog with senior statisticians. This proposal provides funds to ensure that U.S. participants will be able to hear and network with the best experts on these topics from this country and from abroad, and to provide access to the conference for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, new researchers, and members of underrepresented groups
