University of Massachusetts Amherst
	Department of Mathematics and Statistics
	Statistics and Probability Seminar

Abstract: There will be two presentations, each 30 minutes. The first project concern cortisol levels in pregnant women. Cortisol is a hormone related to stress. We report on a study of 354 pregnant women, for whom cortisol was measured several times per day, on multiple days, both before and after delivery. We show the typical pattern by which cortisol fluctuates over the course of the day, and how the pattern varies before and after delivery. The topic of the second project is ozone damage to forests. Ground-level ozone is a pollutant, and one of the major ingredients in smog. Ozone is thought to affect plants when it is taken in through the stomates. But plants' stomates open only when the plants have sufficient moisture; so the effect of ozone depends on the amount of moisture. The US Forest Service collects data from around the country to assess how ozone affects the health of our forests. We report on those data, and the interplay between ozone, moisture, and damage to forests.