Four major international events are among the celebrations in honor of Penn State's C.R. Rao, Eberly professor emeritus of statistics and one of the world's top statisticians, who is turning 90 years old. Formal celebrations include the International Workshop on Matrices and Statistics to be held from June 5 to 8 in Shanghai, China; the Frontiers of Interface Between Statistics and Sciences Conference, which was held from Dec. 30, 2009, to Jan. 2, 2010, in Hyderabad, India; the International Conference on Statistics, Probability, Operations Research, Computer Science, and Allied Areas, which was held from Jan. 4 to 8, in Vizag, India; and the Statistical Science Reflections and Visions Conference, which was held from Jan. 10 to 11 in Kolkata, India.

Also to commemorate Rao's 90th birthday, the Indian Department of Science and Technology honored him with the "India Science Award," the highest honor given to a scientist. Also during 2010, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation -- the urban planning agency that oversees Hyderabad -- is renaming one of the city's roadways "Prof. C.R. Rao Road," and the government of India's postal department released a special envelope featuring Rao's photograph. More information is on the Web at http://www.science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2010-news/Rao1-2010.