Student Statistics Research Conference
Sponsored by Mathematics Department and Statistical Consulting Center
MAGC 2.412, C-STEM
May 2, 2015
Morning Session:
8:30 – 9:00am Registration and Opening. Speaker Management: upload the ppt files.
9:00 – 9:20am Data Analysis for Teachers in the RGV. Joel Peña and Victor Villalpando.
Instructor and Mentor: Dr. George Yanev.
9:20 – 9:40am Tumor Size Remains as an Important Classification and Predictor Factor
in the Clinical Outcome of Breast Cancer Tumors. Ramiro Patino and Antonio Vergara.
Instructor and Mentor: Dr. Tamer Oraby.
9:40 – 10:00am Findings from State Data on Integrated Employment and Total Number
of Closed Cases for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Matilde
Barrera Alaniz. Instructor and Mentor: Dr. Xiaohui Wang.
10:00 – 10:20am Analysis of Descriptive and Inferential Statistics drawn from a Density
Functional Theory Study on Carbon Monoxide Adsorption atop Platinum Alloys.
Fernando A. Flor and Oziel Pulido. Instructor and Mentor: Dr. Tamer Oraby.
10:20 – 10:40am Effects of Standardized Test Scores on Property Values. Jacob
Banda, Virginia Leonardelli and Marianne Loresto. Instructor and Mentor: Dr. George
Yanev.
10:40 – 10:50am Coffee Break. Speaker Management: upload the ppt files.
10:50 – 11:10am How Religious Coping and Spiritual Connectedness Affect Older
Adults’ Depression and Life Satisfaction? Kim Nguyen-Finn. Instructor and Mentor: Dr.
Xiaohui Wang.
11:10 – 11:30am Logistic regression on Intensive Care Unit patients. Mengqi Hu and
Shanshan Zhao. Instructor and Mentor: Dr. George Yanev.
11:30 – 11:50am Inter-correlations among Theory of Mind, Academic Self-Efficacy, and
Giftedness among English/Spanish Bilingual and Monolingual Children. Luis A. Correa,
Juan M. Aboytes, Daniela Kuri, B.A., Amy A. Weimer. Mentor: Dr. Amy A. Weimer.
11:50 – 12:10pm Potential Risk Factors of Chagas Disease: A logistic regression
analysis. Carlos Guzman and Ella Reyes. Instructor and Mentor: Dr. George Yanev.
12:10 – 12:30pm Study on Dietary Behaviors that Cause Diabetes and
Hypertension. Hani Aldirawi, Haicheng Gu and Cheng Li. Instructor and Mentor: Dr.
George Yanev.
12:30 – 1:00pm Lunch & Poster Session. Speaker Management: upload the ppt files.
Afternoon Session:
1:00 – 1:20pm Exploring Factors that Influence Intentional Self-Harm among Hispanic
College Students. Dan Reagan. Instructor and Mentor: Dr. Xiaohui Wang.
1:20 – 1:40pm Predicting Student Success in ALEKS Based College Algebra. Vicente
Valle and Luis Fernandez. Instructor and Mentor: Dr. George Yanev.
1:40 – 2:00pm Determinants of Winning an NBA Playoff Game. Miguel Cerna, Cesar
Galvan and Bishnu Parajuli. Instructor and Mentor: Dr. George Yanev.
2:00 – 2:20pm Exploring the Relationship between Mental Health Symptoms and
Suicide Behaviors with College Student’s Substance Abuse in a Hispanic Serving
Institution. Javier Rodriguez. Instructor and Mentor: Dr. Xiaohui Wang.
2:20 – 2:40pm Predicting College Readiness from the Texas Education Agency’s TAKS
Scores. Luis Fernandez. Instructor and Mentor: Dr. Xiaohui Wang.
2:40 – 2:50pm Conference Conclusion
** Most of the presentations are from three statistics courses taught by statistics faculty in
Mathematics Department who are also associated with Statistical Consulting Center. The three
courses include
 an undergraduate level course, Applied Statistics I (MATH 3337, upcoming UTRGV
code is MATH 3331), taught by Dr. Tamer Oraby;
 a graduate course, Statistical Methods (MATH 6364, upcoming UTRGV code will be
posted), taught by Dr. George Yanev; and
 a graduate course, Research Topics in Rehabilitation (REHS 8310), taught by Dr.
Xiaohui (Sophie) Wang.
Mathematics department will offer an equivalent graduate course to REHS 8310 when UTRGV
starts and the course code and title is MATH 6386, Applied Research Design and Analysis
(upcoming UTRGV code will be posted). Research on real-world problems using statistical
thinking and hands-on statistical data analysis are emphasized in those courses.
As an event of interdisciplinary activity, there are students’ work mentored by a psychology
faculty, Dr. Amy Weimer. In addition, the students giving presentations are from various majors
such as biology, rehabilitation, psychology, and mathematics.