Binghamton University students can learn about credit card and consumer debt, the competitive work force and more starting at 9 a.m. today during the Graduate Student Research Day.

Famed consumer finance specialist and author of “Credit Card Nation: America’s Dangerous Addiction to Credit,” Robert D. Manning, Ph.D., will visit the University as the keynote speaker of the GSRD at 1 p.m. in the Old Union Hall of the Old University Union.

Manning is the research professor and director of the Center for Consumer Financial Services at Rochester Institute of Technology, which examines the effects on American people of consumer attitudes regarding the retail banking industry.

“Manning is an expert on consumer debt,” said Jeremy Hanson, of the Graduate Student Organization. “He’s such an important figure and he predicted the recession that we’re in right now. We want to bring in someone who will speak about things relevant to graduate students, so he is a very good choice.”

As part of his current project to develop national financial literacy programs for college students, Manning will offer his opinions to campus in his presentation, “Banking Deregulation, Plastic Money and Higher Education: The Political Economy of Consumer Debt.” His research and critiques have stimulated public policy debates on consumer debt in the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, India, China and Australia.

In addition to his current role at RIT, Manning, who received the 2001 Robert Ezra Park Award for Outstanding Contribution to Sociological Practice, has also acted as the Institution’s Caroline Werner Gannett Chair of the Humanities. He’s a frequent guest of national media, including recent appearances on “Good Morning America” and CNN’s “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”

The event, which is sponsored by the Binghamton University Graduate Student Organization, the Graduate School and the Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science, will feature a presentation from the Career Development Center on what, where and how to find the right career in an intimidating job market. The presentation will be held from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Mandela Room.

There will be representatives from Academic Computing in the Mandela Room from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to install University-licensed software and to answer questions about using computers on campus.

“The event is basically an academic conference that will give many graduate students the chance to speak to other students about the hard work that they have been doing throughout the year,” Hanson said. “Hopefully people will gain more understanding about the academic research that is going on on campus.”

Students from all academic departments will be showcasing their research in plenary sessions beginning at 9 a.m. in the Old Union room 200, East Lounge and West Lounge. Poster sessions will take place from 10 a.m. to noon in the Mandela Room.