Dr. James J. Cochran, Bank of Ruston Endowed Research Professor and Associate Professor of Quantitative Analysis at Louisiana Tech University, will give the plenary presentation at the 17^th International Conference on Mathematical Modeling and Analysis (MMA) in Tallinn, Estonia. The conference, which will be held on June 6 – 9, is organized by the European Consortium for Mathematics in Industry, the Institute of Cybernetics at Tallinn University of Technology, the Institute of Mathematics of Tallinn University of Technology, and the Estonian Operational Research Society. The MMA conference focuses on various aspects of mathematical modeling and usage of modern methods for analysis and numerical solution of contemporary problems of science and engineering. The conference aims to foster cooperation among practitioners and theoreticians in applied mathematics. Another important goal of the MMA is to encourage the creation and maintenance of collaborative relationships between scientists from the West and the East. Cochran has also accepted an invitation to visit Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland to give a research seminar during this trip. Cochran, who received his Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Cincinnati in 1997 and joined the Louisiana Tech College of Business faculty in 2000, is considered a leading authority in the areas of sample based and Bayesian optimization, statistical methods, computational statistics, statistical learning, and mathematics education. Written by Debbie Van De Velde – debrav@latech.edu